8 Environmental Rules That Were Too Controversial To Enact Pre-Election

[Willinois]

In a previous blog post, I wrote about EPA regulation being the best chance to deal with climate change in Obama's second term. This article at Mother Jones names 8 regulations, including several dealing with coal, that have been delayed.

8 Environmental Rules That Were Too Controversial To Enact Pre-Election
At long last, Obama has a chance to make life harder for polluters. Will he take it?

Quote:While some rules were delayed this year because of election-season strategizing, others have been backlogged for years. The sticking place for many of them is the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs in the Office of Management and Budget, a White House outpost that is supposed to review draft regulations within 90 days. Many advocates for tougher environmental and public health rules blamed OIRA for being too timid in Obama's first term, weakening or delaying any rule that could be contentious.

Here are eight environmental problems that the Obama administration could soon get around to regulating:

1. Greenhouse gas emissions: Last March, the Environmental Protection Agency announced new limits on greenhouse gas pollution from power plants. The new standards would make it very unlikely that any new conventional coal-fired plants would be built in the United States. The comment period on the new rule closed in June, but the EPA has yet to finalize the rule. The EPA also has not yet issued rules for existing power plants, but is expected to do so once the rules for new power plants are in place.

http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2...hould-make