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News & Analysis | REG•WATCH Blog | Press Room
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Bush, Cheney, and OMB Leave Fingerprints on Smog Standard
Yesterday evening, EPA announced its long-awaited decision on the national standard for ozone, a.k.a. smog. As expected, EPA chose to tighten the primary standard to 0.075 parts per million (ppm) from its current level of 0.084 ppm. The secondary standard for ozone will remain identical to the primary standard.
EPA's Administrator, Stephen Johnson, is now taking heat from both sides. Industry groups like the National Association of Manufacturers complain the rule will levy large compliance costs — ignoring the Clean Air Act's prohibition on considering economics for ozone standards. Environmental and public health advocates complain EPA ignored the advice of its independent scientific advisers (who had recommended a standard between 0.060 and 0.070 ppm) and that the rule is not adequately protective of public health. For a breakdown of how the public could have benefited from a tighter standard, see this press release from Environmental Defense.
EPA's decision to tighten the ozone standard will go down as one of the biggest environmental policies to come out of the Bush administration. To prove the significance of the rule, simply look at who was involved.
While EPA's decision to set a standard of .075 ppm had been a foregone conclusion, but officials wrangled over whether to set a separate secondary standard. Under the Clean Air Act, EPA may set a secondary standard for the protection of public welfare. (The primary standard is to focus on public health.)
In the past, EPA has chosen not to set a secondary standard for ozone; but during this revision, the agency had prepared to set a more tailored, seasonal standard citing the vulnerability of certain plants sensitive to ozone's deleterious effects.
However, just days before EPA was ready to issue the new primary and secondary standards, Susan Dudley — the administrator of OMB's Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs who President Bush recess appointed last April — wrote to Johnson March 6 complaining EPA had not considered economics in proposing a new secondary standard and raising questions about the scientific justification for the decision.
Marcus Peacock, EPA's Deputy Administrator and Regulatory Policy Officer, shot back in a letter dated March 7. Peacock said EPA is prohibited from considering costs in setting the secondary standard, and that the agency had provided ample scientific rationale for its decision. An internal memo dated March 11 shows EPA was ready to ignore Dudley's complaints and set a new seasonal secondary standard for ozone.
Apparently, that's when the head honcho stepped in. According to Washington Post reporter Juliet Eilperin, "The rule's preamble indicates Bush settled the dispute March 11, saying the president concluded the secondary standard should be set 'to be identical to the new primary standard, the approach adopted when ozone standards were last promulgated.' "
The president's direct intervention in a rulemaking is rare and, in this case, damaging. The Decider at work.
Johnson's decision to ignore the advice of his scientific advisers and set a compromise standard of .075 ppm likely comes in response to pressure from industry groups and anti-regulatory lobbyists who didn't want the standard changed at all. In the months leading up to the decision, EPA and OMB held numerous closed-door meetings with representatives from the oil, electric, and auto industries, among others.
One of those meetings, held way back in June to hear the specific complaints of the auto industry, featured a representative from the office of Vice President Dick Cheney. Cheney's office rarely involves itself in specific rulemakings; but when it does, it focuses on high-profile rules, particularly environmental and homeland security rules. Although the details of the meeting are not public, the vice president's office was probably stumping on behalf of Big Auto, and against the public health.
Posted by Matt Madia
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