Clean Air Watch Reacts to EPA Particle Pollution Proposal:
President Bush Gives Early Christmas Present to Smokestack Industries
(Washington, DC, December 20, 2005) -- The following is a statement by Frank O’Donnell, President of Clean Air Watch, in response to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed standards for fine-particle pollution:
“The Bush administration is giving an early Christmas present to smokestack industries – while sticking a sooty lump of coal in the stockings of breathers.
“Fine-particle pollution is the most lethal of widespread air contaminants, responsible for tens of thousands of premature deaths each year.
“The electric power industry has lobbied against standards that would require them to clean up more than they currently plan to do.
“Deplorably, the Bush administration has decided to side with the electric power industry rather than follow the advice of its own scientific advisors and other health experts. All of them have urged the agency to update our national air standards to further reduce annual public exposure to this deadly contaminant.
“The Bush administration, unfortunately, has chosen political science over real science.
“What perhaps is most alarming is that the administration is not telling the American public the truth about when the outdoor air is safe to breathe. This decision could further erode public confidence in our federal government.”
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