Obama bows down to demands of GOP Congressmen

Keith Roberts in “Etidbits”

President Obama bowed down to the demands of congressional Republicans and other business leaders on Friday when he announced that his administration’s plans to tighten smog rules had been scrapped. In a statement, the president said he wants the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to withdraw his administration’s draft plan for air quality standards for the ozone.

Obama asked EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson to withdraw the draft of the Ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standards plan, which he says is an effort to reduce regulatory burdens and regulatory uncertainty because of the struggling economy. He noted that it would impose a severe burden on industry and local governments and that it would cost billions of dollars and hundreds of thousands of jobs.

“Work is already under way to update a 2006 review of the science that will result in the reconsideration of the ozone standard in 2013,” he said in a statement. “Ultimately, I did not support asking state and local governments to begin implementing a new standard that will soon be reconsidered.”

Obama said that his administration would continue to protect the public health and environment. He noted that in the future he would “vigorously oppose efforts to weaken EPA’s authority under the Clean Air Act or dismantle the progress we have made...”