Bush's Pollution Initiative: Clear Skies or Hot Air?

Posted: 16-Jul-2002; Updated: 19-Jul-2002

First the Bush administration rolled out its "Clear Skies Initiative," which proposes mediocre pollution cuts from power plants while eliminating core Clean Air Act programs and virtually ignoring pollution of carbon dioxide. Then it launched a rollback of the New Source Review program that has been instrumental in safeguarding local air quality for more than 25 years.

As public debate swirls around these controversial steps, some quarters have decided to take matters into their own hands with preemptive moves against the administration's inaction on climate change and its simultaneous assaults on clean air protections. Most important, a landmark bill to curb greenhouse gas emissions from cars and trucks is expected to be signed by California Governor Gray Davis next week, and a United States Senate committee passed legislation to regulate power plant emissions of carbon dioxide and to impose rigorous cuts in three conventional pollutants.

In an exclusive interview, Environmental Defense attorney Vickie Patton, one of the country's foremost experts on the Clean Air Act, talked about the many broadsides to the Act and what we are doing to fend them off. Says Patton, "The real challenge over the next couple of years will be not only to defend our past Clean Air successes but also to press forward and secure new gains."

	Read the interview with Attorney Vickie Patton
	Find out more about air quality
	Find out more about the California landmark bill and climate change