If this makes Republicans mad, sorry, but they're being ignorant. If the GOP cares at all about rising health care costs (though it's not clear if they do) they should care a lot about soot. With record corporate profits in recent years, it's not clear why it would be acceptable for corporations to skip charges and pollute so they can pollute and then pass on those costs to consumers by way of more health problems.
Let corporations pay to keep the environment clean and help cut consumer health care costs. My own friends and family in the Buckeye state and Pennsylvania are struggling enough with this crisis and don't have the additional money to help fund corporate polluters. Asking them or anyone else to pay for it is just crazy and should not be controversial at all.
Clean air makes good sense for everyone.
The move, to be announced Friday, is likely to win support from environmental groups and public health advocates but exposes the president to potential criticism from congressional Republicans and industry officials that the rules are overly strict and could hurt economic growth and cause job losses in political swing states such as Ohio and Pennsylvania.If the GOP wants to make this controversial, please, let's have an open and honest discussion about corporate profits versus health care cost impact on families.
Perhaps wary of the rule's political risk, the administration had sought to delay the new soot standards until after the November elections. But a federal judge ordered officials to act after 11 states filed a lawsuit seeking a decision this year by the Environmental Protection Agency.
An administration official said the new rule was based on a rigorous scientific review. Virtually all counties in the United States would meet the proposed standard with no additional actions needed beyond compliance with current and impending rules set by the EPA, the official said. Administration officials described the rule to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because it has yet to be announced.
