The EPA puts the mental in environmental

posted by The Vidiot @ 5:48 PM Permalink

Who exactly is the EPA protecting?

EPA relaxes rules on reporting of release of toxic chemicals

The Environmental Protection Agency approved new rules today that will quadruple the amount of some toxic pollutants that companies can release before they have to reveal the amounts to the public.

Federal officials originally proposed a 10-fold increase in the trigger for public reports on most chemicals covered by the 20-year-old "Toxic Release Inventory" program. EPA Deputy Administrator Marcus Peacock said the revised limits will ease regulatory burdens on industry while giving companies an incentive to recycle or better manage toxic compounds.

How bad is the EPA under Bush? Read on:

States sue EPA over soot levels

More than a dozen states sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Monday to lower soot levels from smokestacks and exhaust pipes, a move the state officials argue would save thousands of lives.

The states argue that the Bush administration is ignoring science and its own experts in refusing to slightly reduce the allowed threshold for soot.
[...]
Officials from California, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont and the District of Columbia joined New York in the action filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington.
[...]
Last week [...] the American Lung Association, the American Medical Association and Environmental Defense, sued the EPA over the same issue.

And it's not like we haven't covered similar moves by the BPA (Bushco Protection Agency) before.