The Obama-Era EPA Grew a Tooth
By Pat Racimora on January 10, 2010 at 7:00 PM in Current Affairs
* Bumped up *
I grew up in Los Angles where the outside world was draped in a yellowish-grey miasma almost half the time. We even had a bravado chant to accompany our stinging eyes and hacking coughs: “If you can’t see it, don’t breathe it!”
It appears that the Obama era EPA is interested in the ravages of air pollution and is set to bite. But, is this just more words and more spending at the wrong time?
First, as opposed to the never-ending debate over the extent of global warming, we have known for decades the devastating health effects of long-term exposure to ozone; Cells in the lungs airways become damaged and the respiratory system becomes less able to fight infections or remove foreign particle. The impact is especially detrimental to the very young and the very old.
This week the EPA proposed stricter standards for smog-causing pollutants. Such changes are defended for the obvious purpose of benefitting the health of millions of Americans. This move is in direct challenge to the Bush administration’s weakening of standards in early 2008.
But will it work, and is the timing right given two wars and an economic disaster here at home? States do have until 2013 just to create a plan to reduce smog levels in counties that exceed 60-70 parts per billion of ozone (down from the current 75 parts per billion). Then up to another 20 years is allowed to execute them. Implementing those plans will cost up to 90 billion dollars a year, money that will be hard to find when we can’t pay our bills now. And thorny questions abound. For example, should an area that is heavily polluted have to pay for cleaning up the problem that, due to prevailing winds, starts outside of their territory? Those industries responsible for spewing pollutants are already objecting before hearings even take place.
So, will anything actually happen? I wouldn’t…er…hold my breath.
(More on the details on the EPA plans here, here, and here.)
by Ronald Scott
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