Battle over clean air is bound to get dirty
AFTER EIGHT YEARS, our long-suffering air is already breathing easier. In just the first month of the Obama administration, Environmental Protection Agency administrator Lisa Jackson began revisiting Bush administration policies that some scientists say have set us back more than a decade on global warming. A prime candidate for reversal is the agency's decision to turn down a California request to set tough emissions standards that would effectively create a vehicle fuel efficiency standard of 42 miles per gallon by 2020.
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The fierce resistance is symbolized by William Kovacs, vice president of the US Chamber of Commerce. He told the Wall Street Journal that carbon dioxide regulation through the Clean Air Act "would completely shut the country down."
The resistance also comes in the fine print. In December, General Motors submitted a restructuring report that pledged an average car fleet fuel efficiency of 37.3 miles per gallon by 2012. But in a revision submitted to the Treasury two weeks ago, the company slid backward to 33.7 miles per gallon. It also downgraded its 2012 goal for trucks from 27.5 miles per gallon to 23.8.
If General Motors, on its knees for another $17 billion in bailout funds, remains this sneaky and arrogant, what will other fossil fuel-related companies do to delay regulation and destroy the future? It is another reason GM and Chrysler should not get another dime of taxpayer money until they get real. More broadly, it is a reason for Obama - as much as he is being stretched by the overall economic crisis - to signal he will not tolerate any more corporate shenanigans.
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