'They would have been a regulatory disaster,' he says
Sen. David Vitter, R-La., has had little nice to say about President Barack Obama. But this week, he praised the president for ordering the Environmental Protection Agency to abandon new ozone regulations that Vitter and industry groups said would add huge new financial burdens for business and hurt job development.
Sen. David Vitter"I'm very pleased the president agrees with my concerns and has abandoned this job-killing plan," Vitter said. "And these new rules weren't just based on flawed science -- they would have been a regulatory disaster and would have crippled job-creating businesses across Louisiana and the country."
But environmentalists, who have generally been allied with the administration, reacted harshly to the president's announcement. "The White House is siding with corporate polluters over the American people," said Natural Resources Defense Council President Frances Beinecke. "The Clean Air Act clearly requires the Environmental Protection Agency to set protective standards against smog -- based on science and the law. The White House now has polluted that process with politics." Beinecke served on the White House BP oil spill commission.
Rep. Steve Scalise, R-Jefferson, praised the president's decision, but not Obama or his administration. "For months now, we have been calling on the president to roll back the radical regulations coming out EPA and other agencies, and this is one example of many where the President can -- and should -- abandon the radical government mandates that are killing jobs and doing even further damage to our fragile economy," Scalise said.
Bruce Alpert can be reached at balpert@timespicayune.com or 202.450.1406. Jonathan Tilove can be reached at jtilove@timespicayune.com or 202.450.1404.