Over on E&E News (paid subscription only), Darren Samuelsohn reports that a federal judge has applied his boot to the derriere of the U.S. EPA:
A federal judge lashed out at U.S. EPA yesterday for pursuing industry-friendly regulations at the same time it missed statutory deadlines to control toxic air pollution from small industrial plants.
Judge Paul Friedman of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia criticized EPA for focusing on other priorities as opposed to issuing regulations that address about a third of toxic air pollution.
"EPA has been grossly delinquent in making serious efforts to comply" with the Clean Air Act, Friedman said in his 28-page opinion (PDF).
And he put some oomph behind it:
Friedman's opinion includes an order placing EPA on schedule to complete 50 toxic emission regulations. The first four industrial categories must be regulated by mid-December, with staggered deadlines for the remaining industries spread out until June 2009.
Good stuff. You'll probably hear more about it in tomorrow's Daily Grist.
Comments
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Laurence Aurbach Posted 12:34 pm
03 Aug 2006
DC-Speak
I was curious what the heck are those "discretionary activities" that EPA has been so busy with -- so busy that it was unable to do anything about toxic emissions. This article has the scoop. The discretionary activities involve myriad industry-friendly rules gutting enforcement standards and allowing more pollution and destruction of the land. In one case, it's called "debottlenecking." A more quintessential example of DC-speak cannot be imagined.
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David Roberts Posted 3:05 pm
03 Aug 2006
Debottlenecking!
You almost have to admire it aesthetically.
www.grist.org
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