|
 |
 |
|
Perry urges Obama to block major EPA rule
GOP White House hopeful Rick Perry is asking President Obama to scuttle new air pollution rules that require cuts in power plant emissions that blow across state lines and worsen smog and particulate pollution.
The Texas governor, in a letter to Obama on Monday, takes aim at the Environmental Protection Agency’s recently finalized Cross-State Air Pollution Rule.
The letter, which was first obtained by The Associated Press, alleges the rules have an “impossible” timeline and lessen the reliability of the state’s power grid.
“I urge you to use your executive authority to stop or delay the implementation of this and all other destructive rules, and to work with Congress to pass legislation that will prevent EPA from unilaterally establishing rules that kill jobs and increase electricity prices,” it states.
But EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson strongly disputes claims that Clean Air Act protections and economic growth are at odds, and the White House is vowing to defend rules that it calls vital public health protections.
The White House has threatened to veto House legislation, which passed Friday, that would delay for years the cross-state rule, as well as separate power plant air toxics standards.
“Each year, these rules would avoid tens of thousands of premature deaths, prevent tens of thousands of heart attacks and thousands of hospital visits for respiratory and cardiovascular disease, and alleviate hundreds of thousands of childhood asthma attacks and other respiratory illnesses. EPA estimates that these two rules alone will yield hundreds of billions of dollars in net benefits each year,” the White House said in issuing the veto threat.
EPA estimates that the cross-state rule will annually prevent up to 34,000 premature deaths, 15,000 nonfatal heart attacks and 19,000 cases of acute bronchitis.
The Perry administration has already asked a federal court to block the rule.
