Providence, RI – U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse released the following statement today regarding the Obama Administration’s decision not to act on recommendations from the Environmental Protection Agency to better regulate air pollution:
“I’m deeply disappointed in the Obama White House’s decision to defer acting on ozone pollution, a decision that will directly harm Rhode Island. Only national enforcement will protect us here in Rhode Island from the ‘bad air’ days we experience due to ozone caused by out-of-state power plants. Many of these midwestern power plants have inadequate pollution controls or none at all, and use tall smokestacks to launch the pollution into prevailing winds that bring ozone here to Rhode Island. The existing ozone rule was a travesty of the Bush Administration that violated the recommendations of EPA’s own scientific advisory panel. I objected to it then, and I object to its continuation now. While I appreciate that the Obama administration has stood by other clean air improvements, this decision is very unfortunate.”
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