Understanding Government

There’s a problem when legislators criticize a government agency for overreaching and then overreach in response.  That seems to be the response by some members of Congress to an EPA that is, basically, doing its job.  As a New York Times editorial over the weekend makes clear, the law of the land — the Clean Air Act — is EPA’s job to uphold.  But now some members of the House of Representatives and U.S. senators are trying to chip away at EPA’s ability to regulate not just CO2, but also substances like mercury, soot, and other substances that hurt both humans and wildlife.

If you don’t like the Clean Air Act, then legislate it away — but don’t selectively stop the federal agency charged with carrying it out from doing its job.

History shows that regulatory delays have a way of becoming permanent.

Michigan City, Indiana coal plant

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will finally regulate coal-fired power plants in Northwest Indiana responsible for hundreds of deaths and illnesses in the Chicago metropolitan region. EPA has reached an agreement with Northern Indiana Public Service Company, reports Michael Hawthorne of the Chicago Tribune, to close down a Gary, Indiana power plant and install pollution controls at three other nearby coal plants. (more…)

Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin has called for a federal investigation of air pollution from Chicago area Metra trains and other pollution sources, following a Chicago Tribune investigation. WLS radio reports that Durbin wrote letters to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Federal Transit Administration, and Federal Railroad Administration with the request that they review particulate matter in the atmosphere around Metra trains and train stations. (more…)

Chicago area environmental groups are picking up on a report this week from the non-profit Clean Air Task Force that pollution from coal-fired power plants is responsible each year for about 350 premature deaths in the Chicago region and 13,000 premature deaths nationally. Environmental advocates point out that many of these deaths could be prevented if the Environmental Protection Agency intensified enforcement of existing Clean Air Act rules. (more…)

A cap-and-trade bill will probably not happen this year.  However, 2010 should go down as the first year that the U.S. makes laws to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. While the Senate has dithered on cap-and-trade, the Environmental Protection Agency has moved forward plans to police the emissions that come out of car tailpipes and – eventually – from the factories and power plants that emit the vast majority of greenhouse gas pollutants. The regulations will mark the first time ever that the U.S. government has substantively responded to climate change. They will be, arguably, the most significant regulatory action that EPA has taken since passage of the 1990 Clean Air Act.

But the regulations can’t come close to the impact of Congress passing cap-and-trade legislation. Unlike cap-and-trade, it is unclear what effect EPA regulations will have on industry, the energy economy and the overall level of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. Also, any regulation is expected to prompt lawsuits. EPA action might be a historic first step. But it’s still not clear if and when second and third steps might follow. (more…)