NEWS: President Bush Proposes Changing Rules To Allow Coal Fired Plants More Pollution, page 1

posted on Oct, 14 2005 @ 06:00 PM

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President George Bush's office announced plans to change environmental rules and laws to allow aging coal fired power plants to emit more pollution. The proposed changes will allow emission levels to be recorded annually instead of daily, which will allow for higher pollutant levels in the atmosphere at one time. The move has been hailed by officials in the utility industry but has bought a storm of criticism from enviromental groups.

today.reuters.com
The changes to the contentious "New Source Review" section of the Clean Air Act proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) would let utilities calculate emissions on an hourly, rather than annual basis.

That would allow existing plants to emit more pollutants without triggering federal emission-reduction requirements, environmentalists said.

The EPA said its proposal would allow U.S. industry to boost plant efficiency and reliability without the threat of impending lawsuits.

The Bush administration's Clean Air Interstate Rule, when it takes full effect around 2020, will reduce emissions of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and mercury by about 70 percent, Johnson said.

Rewriting New Source Review has been a priority of the Bush administration.

The White House sought to relax program requirements in an oil refinery bill approved by the U.S. House of Representatives with a two-vote margin last week.

However, the New Source Review language was dropped from the bill at the last minute as Republicans scrambled to win more votes.

Environmental groups said the EPA's plan, if finalized, means U.S. utilities can spew more nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxide -- precursors of acid rain and smog linked to respiratory diseases like asthma.

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Slowly but surely laws are being changed to allow big business more leeway to follow their whims. As long as it makes money, the "she will be right Jack", mentality reigns supreme.

These laws are being passed insidiously and can be interpreted in a wide scope which further plays in the agenda of big business in this brave new world.

[edit on 14-10-2005 by Mayet]

[edit on 14-10-2005 by Mayet]

Thatoneguy

posted on Oct, 14 2005 @ 10:37 PM

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No the purpose of that is to relax some of the dependency on natural gas and lower energy costs (theoretically)

Astronomer68

posted on Oct, 14 2005 @ 11:45 PM

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In the aftermath of Katrina & Rita, I can see where people would want some sort of leglislation like this to prevent the exorbitant price hikes from happening again. However, I don't like the idea of further polluting the atmosphere, I for one, would rather pay more for fuel.