Another day, another buried story. This time, criticism of the EPA (novel, huh?) for abdicating on their responsibility to protect citizens, instead choosing to protect industry. Thanks Red Staters!
The Bush administration overlooked health effects and sided with the electric industry in developing rules for cutting toxic mercury pollution, the Environmental Protection Agency's inspector general said Thursday.The agency fell short of its own requirements and presidential orders by “not fully analyzing the cost-benefit of regulatory alternatives and not fully assessing the rule's impact on children's health,” the agency's internal watchdog said in a 54-page report.
Nikki Tinsley's report said the EPA based its mercury pollution limits on an analysis by Western Energy Supply and Transmission Associates, a group representing 17 coal-fired utilities in eight Western states.
Tinsley said agency workers were instructed by “EPA senior management” to develop a standard compared with other regulations and a White House legislative plan, “instead of basing the standard on an unbiased determination” of the limits.
