Just one week after the Justice Department ruled that lawsuits filed by the Clinton Administration against power plants that failed to install clean-air devices (new source review requirements) should proceed, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Christie Whitman last week notified 70 members of Congress that she would seek court approval to postpone a requirement that utilities cut their coal emissions significantly by May 2003. Though clearly another example of how the Bush administration will cater to industry interests at the cost of public health, EPA spokesperson Joe Marytak said that this was Whitman's attempt to "harmonize" court-ordered compliance dates for different plants, not an attempt to roll back the rule, according to this article in the New York Times.

Currently, utilities have until May 2003 to significantly cut pollutants that cause low-lying smog to drift into other states. Whitman's request would extend that date by one year, to May 2004. In 1997, eight Northeastern states filed a petition that asked the federal government to crack down on interstate smog; as Governor of New Jersey at that time, Whitman was one of the petitioners. Now, as EPA Administrator, she is arguing on behalf of the utilities.