EPA ...or IPA?

It’s nothing new that the Bush Administration is no friend to the environment, but several recent actions by the EPA have really gotten my goat. 

This week the EPA announced that politics will play a bigger role in setting air quality standards – ok well they didn’t really say that outright, but that is the effect of the changes. 

Every five years the EPA reviews air pollution standards for six air pollutants – ozone, soot, nitrous oxides, sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide and lead -  to make sure standards are protective of the environment and public health.  The changes, which the EPA says will “streamline” the process, will add policy considerations to what used to be independent staff scientist review of the science on a pollutant, and will reduce the role of the independent panel of scientific advisors.  Quoted in a New York Times article, Senior Environmental Defense Attorney Vicki Patton summed it up: “They are using this idea of streamlined and expedited decision-making as a Trojan horse to infect the most important decisions the [EPA] administrator makes with politics.”

Lead looks like it might be the first casualty of the new policy. The EPA plans to use this new politically-influenced review process for the lead air quality standards, and the draft staff paper on lead issued this week acknowledges that revoking the standard for lead is an option on the table.  Industry – lead smelters, battery makers and oil refiners - is lobbying for eliminating lead limits. Lead is a highly potent neurotoxin, especially for children. 

Also, on the water quality front, last month the agency approved its final rule that allows spraying toxic pesticides over rivers, streams and lakes without getting a Clean Water Act NPDES permit.  The EPA punts by saying these pesticides are already regulated under the Federal Insecticide. Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), though FIFRA does not regulate water quality or protection of ecosystems. 

If the EPA is going to keep protecting industry over the environment, perhaps it should be called the IPA.