Perry should bypass pro-pollution lawsuit
April 11, 2008
When the Environmental Protection Agency announced new clean-air standards last month, Texas' governor groused that the pollution limits were bad for business. Never mind that the state's smoggy air is bad for breathing.
Written by Editorial, The Dallas Morning News
Texas has dirty air.
City dwellers who dare to venture outdoors during ozone season choke on lung-scarring pollutants. And an unhealthy haze hangs over the state's urban areas.
Apparently, Rick Perry likes it that way.
When the Environmental Protection Agency announced new clean-air standards last month, Texas' governor groused that the pollution limits were bad for business. Never mind that the state's smoggy air is bad for breathing.
Mr. Perry is so committed to maintaining current pollution levels that he's considering joining a lawsuit to stop the stricter standards from being implemented. The National Association of Attorneys General recently sent an e-mail to gauge states' interest in suing the EPA.
In Texas, no final decision has been made, but officials in Mr. Perry's office say they're keeping their options open.
The notion that the Bush administration is too aggressively protecting the environment is a new one.
This EPA has foot-dragging down to a science, and it's actively thwarted states' efforts to set their own emissions limits. In fact, last week, a coalition of states sued the federal government for failing to regulate greenhouse gases.
Proactive this agency is not.
Research showing that existing pollution limits were insufficient to protect public health essentially forced the EPA's hand. And even then, the government did not go as far to regulate ozone as its scientific advisers had urged.
In many ways, polluters got off easy. Still, Mr. Perry is not satisfied.
The governor has been nothing if not consistent in his protect-business-at-all-costs approach to environmental issues. But federal law requires that science supersede economics in setting clean-air standards.
So, Mr. Perry's business-centric complaints would appear to be legally off base.
Instead of fighting clean-air efforts at every turn, the governor could better serve the state by using his political capital to protect Texans' health.
Signing on to a pro-pollution lawsuit would waste public money in what's likely to be a losing battle. And it sure won't make Texas air any safer to breathe.
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