EPA Steps Up Standards on Smog
While I criticize the Obama admisnitration when I think they deserve it, this is welcome news, and a real progressive priority:
Hundreds of communities far from congested highways and belching smokestacks could soon join big cities and industrial corridors in violation of stricter limits on lung-damaging smog proposed Thursday by the Obama administration.
Costs of compliance could be in the tens of billions of dollars, but the government said the rules would save other billions — as well as lives — in the long run.
More than 300 counties — mainly in southern California, the Northeast and Gulf Coast — already violate the current, looser requirements adopted two years ago by the Bush administration and will find it even harder to reduce smog-forming pollution enough to comply with the law.
Our air has been filthy for so long, it’s going to be a hard row to hoe: but in the end, there will be tangible benefits:
The tighter standards, though costly to implement, will ultimately save billions in avoided emergency room visits, premature deaths, and missed work and school days, the EPA said.
”EPA is stepping up to protect Americans from one of the most persistent and widespread pollutants we face,” said agency administrator Lisa Jackson. ”Using the best science to strengthen these standards is long overdue action that will help millions of Americans breathe easier and live healthier.”
Enforcement (!!) will be pursued through federal sanctions, like denying highway dollars to states that don’t comply.
It’s also awesome to hear the whining from power companies and other polluters. So hey, goodonya Obama EPA, good onya!
