Sun Editorial:

Achieving clean air

Federal appellate court delivers welcome ruling that will be good for the lungs

Saturday, Aug. 23, 2008 | 2:05 a.m.

Environmentalists, led by the Sierra Club, scored a major victory for those of us who appreciate clean air by persuading a federal appellate court to reverse an Environmental Protection Agency rule that would have caused more pollution if left intact.

The 2-1 ruling announced Tuesday by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit means that state and local government agencies will regain authority under the Clean Air Act to require industrial polluters to increase their air pollution monitoring when the agencies determine it is necessary. The EPA stripped that power away with a 2006 rule that was consistent with many other moves by the Bush administration to weaken federal pollution regulations.

When Congress amended the Clean Air Act in 1990 it allowed local and state governments to play a more prominent role in ensuring that power plants, factories and other polluters were not reckless in their discharge of soot, mercury, smog and other harmful elements. By taking that authority away, the EPA in effect gave those plants and factories carte blanche to fill the skies with dirty air.

“This is a huge victory against one of the most egregious rollbacks of environmental protections in our nation’s history,” Sierra Club Executive Director Carl Pope said in a statement.

It would be refreshing if the EPA returned to the business of protecting the environment, a mission it has forgotten ever since the Bush administration began directing its political appointees to rewrite good regulations or replace them with bad ones. This administration has created a monster that might as well go by the name Environmental Destruction Agency.

State and local government agencies deserve to be involved in decisions on the level of acceptable pollutants emitted by industrial sources, because those agencies are often in a better position than the federal government to respond to complaints from citizens about dirty air. That’s why we’re glad the court ruled the way it did.

Discussion: 4 comments so far…

By neiman1

8/23/08 at 7:46 a.m.

Suggest removal

Environmental suits have also stopped the BLM from leasing any public land for Solar Energy plants in the desert. A full environmental impact report will take 3 years and then they can take another shot at suing to "save the desert". So we send our jobs to Canada to build refineries for Canadian oil to ship here at $4.00 a gallon. This is insanity. Tell Senator Reid to use our resource for American jobs.

email link
http://reid.senate.gov/contact/index.cfm...

Las Vegas
Lloyd D. George Building
333 Las Vegas Boulevard South, Suite 8016
Las Vegas, NV 89101
Phone: 702-388-5020 / Fax: 702-388-5030
By Future2012

8/23/08 at 8:29 a.m.

Suggest removal

Just yesterday we hear Reid say that the Environmental extremists (including the Sierra Club) were in his pocket and they would now do his bidding.

I am sure that this case must have been approved by Reid, or has he already lost control.
By Benedictine1980

8/23/08 at 11:41 a.m.

Suggest removal

In 2001 you could stand on the northernmost outskirts of Las Vegas and see crystal clear to the mountains in the south. By this past summer I could barely see the downtown skyscrapers through the brown fog of pollution, let alone the mountains.

Las Vegas has the best solar energy in the nation, but rarely do you see a solar dish or panels anywhere. It is surrounded by mountains that are perfect for wind farming. But not one windmill is in sight.

And still they build with black tar roofs, parking lots and roads, creating a hellish heat sink that does not allow for natural cooling at night and is then exacerbated by the use of thousands of air conditioners - expelling even more heat. If it continues this way Las Vegas will be uninhabitable.
By jfnance32

8/23/08 at 12:13 p.m.

Suggest removal

Solar and wind are expensive.

The bring new Solar One Plant southwest of Las Vegas generates energy at 240% times the current market price for enegry.

They need to spend more R & D to bring the cost down.

Unless we are willing to have our power bills double which would impact the price of all goods, lower our standard of living and people would lose jobs.