EPA Delays Its Pollutant Control Strategy

WASHINGTON —  The Environmental Protection Agency is postponing action on requests from oil companies and electric utilities to stop tightening pollution standards on old power plants and refineries as they are modernized.

The EPA said Tuesday it will delay making a recommendation to President Bush until September, when it will propose legislation for reducing emissions of three major air pollutants.

“Our top priority is protecting public health and the environment, and we are in the final stages of developing a comprehensive strategy that will allow us to take the next step forward into a new generation of air pollution controls,” said EPA Administrator Christie Whitman.

Bush’s energy plan had called for the EPA to submit a recommendation by Friday on whether to retain, scuttle or modify the plant modernization rules adopted in the last year of the Clinton presidency.

Environmentalists said that, while the postponement is a recognition of strong public opposition to any weakening of clean air rules, it signals that the administration plans to accede at least somewhat to industry pleas.

“If they were going to come out and reaffirm their commitment to this program, they would just do that this week,” said Rebecca Stanfield, an attorney for the U.S. Public Interest Research Group. “They’re looking to obscure the impact of what they’re doing by putting it into the context of a bigger legislative proposal.”

At issue is the EPA’s new source review program, which is supposed to minimize air pollution from new factories, power plants and refineries.

Industry leaders complained that President Clinton’s EPA officials misinterpreted the Clean Air Act by applying the same standards to older plants when they were upgraded, discouraging modernization.

The EPA’s evaluation of the program was ordered by a task force headed by Vice President Dick Cheney, which predicted the need for 1,300 new power plants. The agency held four hearings around the country and received 130,000 written comments on the issue.