DEBRIS.COMgood for a laugh, or possibly an aneurysm

Leave it to the Bush Administration to come up with an environmental-protection bill so noxious that even Republicans rejected it.

On Wednesday, the Bush Administration’s so-called “Clear Skies” bill was defeated by a tie vote in the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.

“This is a stunning victory for public health,” said Sujatha Jahagirdar, Clean Air Advocate for Environment California. “It’s great news for the American people, and bad news for the polluting energy companies who were looking forward to this sweetheart deal.” “We commend Senator Boxer for working to defeat this disastrous bill.”

The Sierra Club points out the disastrous results that would have followed, had Bush’s “Clear Skies” bill passed:

• Enforcement of existing toxic air pollution protections in the Clean Air Act will limit mercury pollution to 5 tons per year by 2008. The Bush Administration’s “Clear Skies” plan would have weakened the limit to 26 tons per year by 2010 — allowing 520 percent more mercury pollution.
• Current Clean Air Act programs could result in NOx pollution levels of about 1.25 million tons by 2010. But the Bush plan calls for loosening the cap on NOx pollution to 2.1 million tons by 2008 — effectively allowing 68 percent more NOx pollution.
• Clean Air Act programs could reduce SO₂ pollution levels to 2 million tons by 2012. The Bush Administration plan weakens protections to allow 4.5 million tons of SO₂ by 2010 — allowing a staggering 225 percent more SO₂ pollution.

More good news for the environment came on Thursday, when the EPA adopted CAIR, the Clean Air Interstate Rule, which Environmental Defense projects will “[make] the biggest cuts to smog- and soot-forming powerplant pollution in a decade.” CAIR is “Clear Skies” without the ironic quote marks: it really will result in clearer skies.

I didn’t expect to be writing much good news about the environment during George W. Bush’s presidency. This week’s eco-victories restore a bit of my faith in the political process.

(See my previous rant about “Clear Skies” and CAIR.)