EPA

Americans Are Greater Together

Leo Gerard — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 13:46:54 -0500

It wasn’t so much a vote as a proclamation of ideology last Thursday when Republicans filibustered Obama’s nominee to lead the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

The rebuff had nothing to do with the person, Richard Cordary, who even Republican Senator Orrin Hatch said appeared well qualified. Rather, it was part of the GOP campaign to hobble the agency created to safeguard borrowers from dodgy payday lenders and predatory mortgage salesmen.

The GOP thwarts regulatory agencies in order to enforce its “you’re on your own” philosophy. That is, each citizen, like an island, fends for himself in a world where the invisible hand of the market serves as regulator. Democrats believe something very different. They espouse the principles set out by President Teddy Roosevelt in his 1910 speech in Osawatomie, Kan., and echoed by President Obama in his address there last week. That is America and Americans are better when citizens work together and watch out for each other, that cooperating invigorates the individual, the economy and the nation, and that primacy is in people and profit is subordinate.

The late Senator Paul Wellstone expressed the essential sentiment most succinctly:

“We all do better when we all do better.”

Republicans don’t ascribe to that. They want to set up a country where every person is responsible for every aspect of daily life, from ensuring drinking water is safe to reducing workplace hazards. The GOP wants to shred regulations that protect citizens, even eliminate the federal agencies that enforce them. Congressional Republicans have worked to defund the Environmental Protection Agency, a move that would “empower” each citizen to persuade big industrial polluters to limit the particulates, mercury, arsenic, cadmium and lead belching from smokestacks.

Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich said he’d reverse laws forbidding child labor –the same regulations Teddy Roosevelt endorsed to keep youngsters in classrooms and out of factories. In a nation deeply concerned about the quality of schools and the quantity of imported oil, GOP candidate Rick Perry plans to close the Education and Energy departments. Republican candidate Ron Paul would abolish the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the organization citizens created to aid fellow Americans who fall victim to natural disasters like hurricanes, tornadoes and floods.

But that’s just the point: Republicans don’t believe Americans should help each other – they should only help themselves. In the GOP view, greed and selfishness aren’t sins. They’re virtues.

That’s a new fangled philosophy for Republicans, however. Wealthy Republican Teddy Roosevelt, a big game hunter and war hero who led the Rough Riders up San Juan Hill to win the Spanish-American War, might be expected to be a rugged individualist of the go-it-alone ilk promoted by today’s GOP. But he wasn’t. He counseled against a cult of individualism, writing:

“The fundamental rule in our national life – the rule which underlies all others – is that, on the whole, and in the long run, we shall go up or down together.”

The concept is citizens working together for their mutual benefit and the advancement of their nation. American citizenship is not, Roosevelt said in his New Nationalism Address in Osawatomie in 1910, all about individual enrichment:

“Those who oppose all reform will do well to remember that ruin in its worst form is inevitable if our national life brings us nothing better than swollen fortunes for the few and the triumph in both politics and business of a sordid and selfish materialism.”

That could have come from the mouth of an Occupy Wall Street protester.

Then there’s this from Roosevelt in Osawatomie on regulation:

“This, I know, implies a policy of a far more active governmental interference with social and economic conditions in this country than we have yet had, but I think we have got to face the fact that such an increase in governmental control is now necessary.”

His purpose was to ensure equal opportunity for all people who work hard, he said:

“I stand for the square deal. But when I say that I am for the square deal, I mean not merely that I stand for fair play under the present rules of the game, but that I stand for having those rules changed so as to work for a more substantial equality of opportunity and of reward for equally good service.”

One hundred and one years later in Osawatomie, President Obama reiterated those sentiments. He talked about how in the 75 years after Roosevelt’s speech, America moved toward fulfilling the Rough Rider’s goals. The nation decreased income inequality and increased opportunity. Hard work paid off, and anyone who strived could succeed. This gave rise to the largest middle class and strongest economy in world history.

But, over the past 25 years, this progress eroded. Income inequality rose dramatically. Simultaneously, opportunity diminished. The middle class shrank as hard work too frequently stopped paying off.

How to restore opportunity and shared prosperity is, Obama said, “the defining issue of our time.” Roosevelt sought it through the square deal. Obama called for something similar:

“I believe that this country succeeds when everyone gets a fair shot, when everyone does their fair share, and when everyone plays by the same rules. Those aren’t Democratic or Republican values; 1 percent or 99 percent values. They are American values, and we have to reclaim them.”

Obama rebuked on-your-own selfishness and greed, saying each American has a stake in the success of all Americans:

“We are greater together than we are on our own.”

What the President Should Have Said About JT Henderson - and All the Other "Real People"

Richard Eskow — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 16:58:14 -0400

Last night the President took a lofty, almost disinterested stance regarding budget deadlock in Congress. He seemed to chastise Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Speaker John Boehner equally, focusing on the consequences of a shutdown and ignoring the consequences of making a bad deal to avoid a shutdown.

A Federal shutdown would have "real consequences for real people," said the President, mentioning one "real" person by name: J.T. Henderson of Louisville, Kentucky.

So let's talk about J.T. Henderson - and about all the other J.T. Hendersons who are just as real, and just as important, as our friend in Louisville. You'd be surprised how many there are.

Meet the Hendersons

Who wasn't the President talking about when he mentioned the name "J.T. Henderson" last night?

He wasn't referring to J.T. Henderson, Georgia's Commissioner of Agriculture in the 1800's. Commissioner Henderson did groundbreaking work (no pun intended) on the development of government resources that help farmers and therefore boost the entire economy. His achievements include the expansion of his department of agriculture and the creation of one of the earliest weather services.

The Republicans want to cut funding for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and for weather services too. That would leave state institutions like those created by the late Mr. Henderson in a severe financial bind.

Nor was the President referring to the late Reverend J.T. Henderson, a Methodist minister in Norman, Oklahoma who died over 100 years ago. Rev. Henderson's church is still going strong there in Norman. The National Weather Service issued a "red flag alert" in Norman today, which will help the people prevent costly and life-threatening wildfires. The EPA's helping to investigate possible contamination of the city's drinking water.

The Republicans want to cut funding for the National Weather Service and the EPA.

The President wasn't quoting J.T. Henderson, a church saxophonist in Baltimore, Maryland. That J.T. Henderson played in the band at a public university and almost certainly in his high school band, too. High school music programs have already been cut back dramatically, and face even more severe cuts if Federal education funding is reduced in the ways that have been proposed.

Public universities are likely to struggle, too, as states are forced to replace lost Federal funding and fewer students are able to obtain Pell Grants.

Nor was the President referring to the J.T. Henderson who plays football at Coastal Carolina University in South Carolina. When public universities lose funding, sports programs face cutbacks too.

And the President wasn't referring to J.T. Henderson, a plumber in Nacogdoches, Texas. His shop's located at the spot where Farm-toMarket Road meets Guy Blount Road, not far from Spanish Bluff. I don't know if that J.T. has kids, but it's going to be tough to send them to college on a plumber's income without Pell grants. And the GOP budget slashes farm assistance programs, including those which help middle-class farmers, so Farm-to-Market Road may not be getting a lot of traffic. And that could hurt J.T.'s business.

I'm sure it was unintentional, but the President's choice of words left the impression that all of these J.T. Hendersons, each of whom could suffer from the wrong budget deal, aren't quite as "real" as the J.T. whose check would be delayed under a shutdown.

The man of the hour

Here's who the President was talking about: J.T. Henderson from Louisville, Kentucky. J.T. and his wife are waiting for the tax refund they'll get as the result of an adoption tax credit. "If I could speak directly to the President or the Congressional leadership," said J.T., "I would just tell them that their grandstanding has effects as it trickles down to normal, everyday Americans."

According to ABC's website, "Henderson works in development for a non-profit in Louisville, Ky., and his wife is a first-year pediatric resident at Kosair Children's Hospital. They have struggles with large bills from medical school loans, moving expenses and Tedi's adoption."

Said J.T.: "We live check to check."

That nonprofit organization where J.T. works is dedicated to reducing child abuse and neglect in the community, which is among the most noble of vocations. J.T. himself appears to be a good guy, with the background of a person who (in the words of my Southern Baptist relatives) is "right with the Lord" and has been steeped in the hardcore fire-and-brimstone gospel. I have the feeling that, whatever his politics or theology, he has a pure and kind heart.

But J.T. may not realize that this fight isn't just about "grandstanding." It's also about ensuring that student loans are available for his child, as they were for his wife. It's about ensuring that his wife and other physicians aren't confronted with the dilemma of either accepting little or no pay to care for the elderly or turning them away altogether.

Here's something else that might interest J.T.: Studies also show that child abuse and neglect are closely linked to poverty and income levels. Poverty has already surged in the past several years, and withdrawing support for low-income families is exactly what shouldn't be done if we want to reduce this scourge from our children.

Dear Mr. President

The President quoted J.T.'s remarks about "grandstanding" and its "effects as it trickles down to normal, everyday Americans." and added: "I could not have said it better myself."

With all due respect, Mr. President, I believe you could have said it better yourself. That's no criticism of J.T., who's reacting based on the information available to him. But you have more information than he does.

Mr. President, you could have said that there is a clear struggle here between those who would defend the middle class, and those who would defend the wealthy. You could have said that you respect the outcome of the 2010 election, but that you believe that respect is a two-way street and that the 2008 election deserves respect too. You could have said that threatening a government shutdown does violence to our political system by turning the collegial give-and-take of politics into a hostage negotiation.

Mr. President, you could have said that you came to Washington to change the tone, but not by being victimized by bullying attempts to bypass the political process, or by permitting lasting harm to people who aren't responsible for our current economic crisis. You could have also said that you had already agreed to the Republicans' figure - $33 billion in cuts - only to have them demand even more.

And respectfully, Mr. President, you could have avoided a locution which suggests, however unintentionally, that the middle-class families who wouldn't be able to purchase a home, afford health care (especially in their senior years), or send their kids to college aren't "real people." Or that the children who attend Head Start programs and the families that depend on food stamps aren't "real," either.

I'm sure you didn't mean that, Mr. President.

Dear J.T.

And a quick word to J.T. Henderson of Louisville, KY: Sorry you've had to go through this, but hang in there, buddy. These media firestorms end as quickly as they begin. This too shall pass.

Someday you'll tell your grandchildren that the President of the United States mentioned you on television, and that you were famous for a few days before life mercifully got back to normal.

They'll probably say "What was television, Grandpa?"

Let's just hope you're not forced to live with the grandkids so that you can pay your medical bills.

Our closing J.T.s

Here are few more J.T.'s that weren't mentioned by the President:

The President wasn't referring to J.T. Henderson from Grand Rapids, Michigan. He's a "discount realtor" who will sell your house for less than $500, and he specializes in "HUD homes" - foreclosed homes that were backed by an FHA loan, whose ownership has now reverted to the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

The rapid rise in the number of "HUD homes" is another product of the financial crisis brought on by Wall Street deregulation. They're also trying to use the threat of a government shutdown to roll back the partial reforms enacted last year.

Nor was the President referring to the J.T. Henderson who says somewhere on the Internet, "Got so much money I should rob myself." The guys who really fit that description are on Wall Street, but they're not robbing themselves.

And the President wasn't referring to the J.T. Henderson who was a Scoutmaster in West Texas fifty years ago. That J.T. painted large nature murals on the tents of the Boy Scouts under his supervision, and they were apparently a big hit at the 1964 Boy Scout Jamboree. He's not relevant to the budget issue the way the other J.T.s are, but his murals were pretty cool.

All of these J.T. Hendersons have something in common with the man the President did mention last night - and with people on food stamps, students with Pell Grants, people with FHA loans, with you, and with me.

We're all real.

__________________________________________________________

[1] To track the impact of budget and public policy debates, go to www.TheMiddleClass.org.

This post was produced as part of the Curbing Wall Street project and the Strengthen Social Security campaign.

America Needs a 12-Step Program

Kari Fulton — Wed, 20 May 2009 12:18:02 -0400

It is a Monday morning in Washington, D.C. and the children of River Terrace Elementary are walking past carry-outs, liquor stores, traffic, and plumes of smoke from the Benning Road Peaking Power Plant dancing in the sky. The dance ends with a sprinkle of pellets of chemical warfare falling onto the community below. Scientists at the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry call it "particulate matter" and it has been linked to the area's high rates of asthma, bronchitis and cancer .

A few states away, at Marsh Fork Elementary in West Virginia, little children are also filing into class, smack dab in the middle of coal country. Sludge fills their drinking water, so they are told not to drink it. Sometimes they cannot even go out to play, because the cracks in the playground are oozing out toxic coal sludge. Why?

Why are these children and so many more people around the world suffering from cancer, disease, chemical warfare, increased violence and economic instability? All for the sake of fossil fuels. Brittanica Encyclopedia defines fossil fuels as, "any of a class of materials of biologic origin occurring within the Earth's crust that can be used as a source of energy. Fossil fuels include coal, petroleum, and natural gas. They all contain carbon, and were formed as a result of geologic processes acting on the remains of (mostly) plants and animals that lived and died hundreds of millions of years ago." This ancient source supplies 90 percent of all the energy used by industrially developed nations. It turns on our lights, heats our stoves, fuels our cars.

The Politics of Energy: How Much Capping And Trading?

In the days leading up to the America's Future NOW! conference starting June 1, we're hosting an online dialogue featuring conference speakers on the key issues they will be addressing during the conference. Join the conversation by clicking the "Discuss" link below or contribute your own post.

For almost a century, scientists have been developing technology to make us less reliant on fossil fuels. In 1910, American Engineer Frank Schuman built one of the first practical industrial scale solar plant, at Meadi, Egypt. Schuman proclaimed enthusiastically, "Sun power is now a fact and no longer in the 'beautiful possibility' stage... It will have a history like aerial navigation. Up to twelve years ago it was a mere possibility and no one took it seriously."

Unfortunately Schuman's innovative technology and his solar powered predecessors have been placed on the back burner, as world economies lean toward less expensive, but more dangerous fossil fuel. This dependence on fossil fuels has become a monkey on our back that we cannot seem to shake. Almost 100 years later, we are still facing the threats of oil shortages and struggling with an addiction to this dangerous, life threatening commodity. But why?

Why. Because the fossil fuel industry is so addicted to the profits from controlling the masses with oil and coal, that they even have the audacity to call it "clean".

Please, don't believe the hype. Ain't no such thing as clean coal. Ask the parents of the children at Marsh Fork Elementary, who live in the Appalachian mountains, and work in the coal mines blowing up mountaintops to gather up coal.

Thedirtylie.com, found that in the past twenty years, "mountaintop removal has obliterated an estimated 470 mountains in Appalachia, crushing 1 million acres of the world’s most productive and diverse temperate hardwood forests and smothering 1,200 miles of streams. At the current pace, the coal industry will have decimated a piece of Appalachia the size of Delaware - more than 1.4 million acres — by the end of the next decade."

The falling rock from mountaintop removal tumbles and hits the homes of the Appalachian people below. With one stroke, seven, nine, ten generations of memory falls to pieces. The rock breaks the homes, but the work breaks the soul.

In Nigeria, the quest and acquisition of fossil fuels has also lead to oil related violence. A 2004 Fact Finding Report by the Human Rights Watch, “Rivers and Blood: Guns, Oil and Power in Nigeria’s Rivers State,” found companies like Shell have taken over indigenous land and partnered with corrupt politicians to maintain control over oil markets and Nigeria's government. Since late 2003, the running fight for control of these villages and towns has resulted in the deaths of dozens of local people and forced tens of thousands to flee their homes. Schools and businesses have closed. Homes and property worth millions of dollars has been destroyed. Hundreds of mostly young male fighters have also been killed. The violence has created a profound climate of fear and insecurity in Rivers State, leaving local people reluctant to return to their homes or to seek justice for the crimes committed. Although it is dangerous, the people work in the mines because that is all they know. They are now addicted too, but crying for a twelve step program.

Please America, check-in to rehab from fossil fuels. Please America, go into rehab for our souls. We are watching the earth die, not realizing that the same things that are killing our planet are the same thing that are killing us too.Greenhouse gases are the number one cause for climate change around the world. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that over half of the greenhouse gas emissions from United States come from power plants like the Benning Road Peaking Plant, in the River Terrace Community, in Washington, DC. Another third comes from transportation and the exhaust that comes from automobiles fueled with oil from oil refineries like the ones in Nigeria's River State. As one of the world's largest emitters of greenhouse gas emissions, our energy usage is causing the world to heat up with vengeance.

This addiction is worse than any drug, and runss so deep that most of us don't even realize we are fiends; from petrolatum jelly vaseline to cars that run on gasoline, to month after month of making ends meet to pay a light bill, or heating bill — while Mother Earth continues to be pimped for our comfort and satisfaction.

But can you really blame the people when you have fossil fueled fiends running our markets and our country? They introduced us to the good stuff and said we had to have it to succeed; to run that red-hot corvette and thaa private jet is what will really make you feel free. Unfortunately, this type of "freedom" doesn't come to many. So most people in the world are just reading the advertisement and breathing the fumes from car exhausts and jet fuels. Particulate matter slowly falling is inhaled, causing yet another child to miss a day of school. The doctor will say it's just another asthma attack.

There is another way to freedom. Today, more and more countries are revisiting the work of engineers like Frank Schuman who saw renewable energy such as wind and solar as more than just a "beautiful possibility". As an activist in the Youth Climate Movement and organizer with the Environmental Justice and Climate Change Initiative, I've had the honor to work with amazing leaders from around the world, all working together to spark a truly clean and just energy revolution that creates healthy and sustainable jobs, preserves our planet and frees millions of people around the world from addiction to fossil fuels.

In 2007 the Energy Action Coalition, which is made up of 50 organizations, including EJCC, came together to host the first ever youth summit on the Climate Crisis. The event gathered together over 6,000 young people from the U.S. and Canada. With Power Shift 2007, we held the largest lobby day on climate in U.S. history. Power Shift 2007 engaged a nation and helped to make climate change and renewable energy a major topic in state and national elections.

In January of 2009 the Energy Action Coalition came together once again within the first 100 days of President Barack Obama's term for Power Shift 2009. Through Power Shift 2009, we gathered 12,000 young people from around the U.S. and the world, all in solidarity for a truly just renewable energy economy. We gained the attention of our local senators and congress people by storming the halls of Capitol Hill, wearing green hard hats symbolizing a unified call for more green jobs and investment in a new green economy.

With a new administration, the voices of the Youth Climate Movement and the calls from the grassroots advocacy of communities living near the coal fields, power plants and oil refineries are finally starting to be heard. On March 24, 2009 the Environmental Protection Agency announced it will suspend and review permits for two mountaintop removal coal mining operations — and putting hundreds more mountaintop coal-mining permits on hold until it can evaluate their impact on our nation’s streams and wetlands. On April 17th, the agency announced its findings from a 2007 Supreme Court Ordered report and found that greenhouse gases are a serious threat to public health and welfare. With a sense of hope for the future, EPA administrator, Lisa Jackson announced, “This finding confirms that greenhouse gas pollution is a serious problem now and for future generations....This pollution problem has a solution – one that will create millions of green jobs and end our country’s dependence on foreign oil.”

Within the first 100 days of the Obama Administration, the United States has taken the first steps in a twelve step process to end our addiction to fossil fuels. We have acknowledged that we have a problem and it is directly connected to the fossil fuels we consume. If we want to live free, if we want to continue living in our perceived luxuries, we must take a moment to reduce our waste, reduce our pace of energy consumption, and thinkt.

Today is the time to make a decision. Just like the workers in the coal mines of West Virginia, we are reaching our rock bottom and it is time for an intervention and introduction to a twelve step program to end this addiction to fossil fuels. By reviewing the twelve step program developed in 1935 by Alcoholics Anonymous founders Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob Smith, I have created 12 steps the United States and the American people must take to alleviate this addiction and truly reach Eco-freedom and Environmental Justice.

Step 1. Admitting we have a problem, and that the United States is the largest emitter of greenhouse gases that are causing climate change. We are dependent on unhealthy and unstable fossil fuels, and are playing a role in the destruction of ourselves, others and the planet.

Step 2. Start to believe there is a power higher than ourselves. For whatever reason, that higher power allowed us to live on this planet. We must give thanks by tending to this planet as the planet has tended to us.

Step 3. Make a decision to embrace the "WE" mentality instead of the "ME" mentality. The world is more that one person. At this stage, we begin to live our lives with conscious respect for the planet and all beings inhabiting this world.

Step 4. Take a soul searching and fearless inventory of our personal practices, and the social circumstances that have allowed this addiction to fossil fuels to run our lives.

Step 5. Continue our soul searching quest, and publicly admit to ourselves, Mother Earth, and the world the exact wrongs we have done to the earth and to our bodies through this addiction to fossil fuels.

Step 6. Be entirely ready to transition off of fossil fuels and unsustainable habits, purchases and practices.

Step 7. Work together to create a grassroots and mainstream culture of support in removing our countries over materialistic and consumerist shortcomings that allow this addiction to fossil fuels to grow larger as a threat to our planet and our humanity. Humbly ask and listen for guidance and support from Mother Nature and the international greater good.

Step 8. Making a list of people countries and environments we have harmed and be willing to make amends to them all. This will be quite a feat for United States, or almost any developed nation, to accomplish. However, in our own lives we can begin by making a list of environmental hazards in our communities or in communities that may receive the waste from our community.and pledging to advocate for land remediation and support with environmental justice concerns.

Step 9. Making direct amends to the communities, countries and environments that we have harmed due to our addiction to fossil fuels, except when to do so would injure them or others. While we must make amends for our wrongs, we must listen to the needs of people we have wronged first, and make sure they even want our help. We can make direct amends to the earth and to communities impacted by our environment by giving back through tree planting, advocacy work, fundraising support for local grassroots actions and clean-up/service projects to restore our communities and our environment.

Step 10. Continuing taking personal inventory and not be afraid to admit when we are wrong. As a world leader, America must shred an misconceived image of superiority. This image has helped greatly in allowing us to fall into one of the worst recessions since the Great Depression. At this step we won't allow our pride to keep us from saving people and the planet.

Step 11. Staying connected and in tune with a higher power, grassroots community efforts and to the mission of our country that is expressed in the constitution. Through a process of deep thought and research making sure that we realize who we truly are in this world and in this universe. Becoming more aware of the deeper role America can play in protecting our environment and reducing the threat of drastic climate change.

Step 12. At this point our country will have experienced such a dramatic sociological and cultural shift that if asked we could truly work with other countries like China, India and Europe as we all overcome our addiction to fossil fuels.

However in order to reach step twelve, we must all take step one.

The Environmental Protection Agency, grassroots environmental advocates and everyday people around the world have started taking the first steps towards Eco-freedom. We are gathering together to make sure our country makes the first step as well. This year, 2009, is a critical turning point in our future. Major legislation on climate change is being debated on the floors of Capitol Hill, and in December, leaders of industrialized nations around the world will come together in Copenhagen, Denmark for the 15th annual United Nations Climate Change Conference.

For 8 years the world has been waiting for the U.S. to make a statement. This year will be the first time the Obama administration will be a part of the negotiations, and it is the hope of the world that the U.S. will take a lead in addressing global climate change by making true steps to reducing our greenhouse gas emissions. The decisions we make today will decide the future of our children and generations to come. It's time to listen to seven generations from today. It's time to drop the fossil fuel habit and start creating the beautiful reality of a renewable energy economy that is based on justice, human rights and sustainability!

To learn more about what you can do to advocate for getting the United States into a Fossil Fuel Rehab program visit powershift09.org, ejcc.org and checktheweather.net.

And a Power Plant in Every Home

Batocchio — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 02:17:53 -0400

The Bush administration continues to strip away regulations on their way out the door. This time, the department is the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Clean Air Act is the target. McClatchy reports (emphasis added):

At the Bush administration's direction, the Environmental Protection Agency is working on a new rule that would weaken pollution regulations for power plants, allowing them to increase emissions without adding controls.

EPA officials have been working on a fast track to meet a Saturday deadline, but many of them are arguing against changing the rule, said former EPA attorney John Walke and an EPA career official who spoke only on the condition of anonymity because the official wasn't authorized to make statements.

They said that the EPA was expected to decide in November on another eleventh-hour rule that would allow more power plants to be built near national parks and wilderness areas.

Power companies have sought the rule about power plant emissions for many years, and it was part of Vice President Dick Cheney's 2001 energy plan. Rules finalized more than 60 days before the administration leaves office are harder for the next administration to undo.

The Clean Air Act requires older plants that have their lives extended with new equipment to install pollution-control technology if their emissions increase. The rule change would allow plants to measure emissions on an hourly basis, rather than their total yearly output. This way, plants could run for more hours and increase overall emissions without exceeding the threshold that would require additional pollution controls.

As usual, informing the public and soliciting their opinion did not factor into this decision:

The EPA official said that concerns in the agency were that the analysis justifying the rule change was weak and the administration didn't plan to make the analysis public for a comment period, as is customary...

The EPA is under no obligation to reveal internal deliberations, so in many cases the public never knows what objections may have been raised.

The White House wouldn't comment on its views about changing the rule, Kristen Hellmer, a spokeswoman for the White House's Council on Environmental Quality, said Monday.

The Washington Post Editorial Board weighs in, concluding:

Instituting this rule would be willful disregard of science, the intent of the Clean Air Act and the public's right to have a voice in such an important decision. And it would cement the Bush administration's say-one-thing-and-do-another reputation on climate change. The planet is warming faster than scientists had predicted. What the EPA might do would make it worse.

Oh, and in a last minute move, the EPA also lowered the restrictions on airborne lead after the White House objected. The next administration will have a large number of messes to clean up.