Editorial: Environmental rules are in jeopardy again

Friday, Aug. 17, 2001 | 4:31 a.m.

Last week the Bush administration was to announce whether it would relax or strengthen the pollution control requirements for power plants that are being repaired or upgraded. But the administration postponed its decision, a move that environmental groups correctly identified as an ominous sign. Energy plant executives may well use this time to extract changes that would gut these regulations that are supposed to promote clean air.

A familiar pattern already has emerged in the Bush presidency. If there is a choice between the environment or energy production, the industry's concerns will win out, as they did with the president's national energy plan. Bush already has delayed the implementation of rules that would limit arsenic in drinking water, and he scuttled a regulation that would curb carbon dioxide emissions. It's a shame that all the gains made during the Clinton administration to protect the air, water and land are now being trashed by the new administration.

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