Isra-Mart srl: EPA confirms plan to relax emissions rules

www.isramart.com

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has confirmed it will make "slight" modifications to up-coming power plant emissions rules that could result in 1.3 per cent more emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide than planned.

The agency said that ten of the 27 states covered by the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule would see the new air quality standards relaxed, with the EPA issuing the states one per cent more pollution allowance credits.

The move follows the recent decision to delay demanding new smog standards and is likely to further anger green businesses and NGOs.

The EPA insisted the changes did not represent a watering down of the regulations, arguing they were a routine change based on new pollution data submitted by the states.

The agency insisted that "today's proposal will maintain the significant health benefits of the rule, saving up to 34,000 lives a year".

The change represents something of a victory for those industries and states that have been lobbying for the rules to be relaxed.

However, critics argued the changes did not go far enough.

Texas attorney general Greg Abbott told the Wall Street Journal that the EPA should go further and completely reform the rules. "By making the minor changes announced today, the Obama administration effectively concedes that its rules were flawed but inexplicably refuses to resolve the real defects," he said.