The Obama administration is set to release new proposed regulations that would drastically cut back on the amount of ozone released by industry. The new rules will be issued under the authority granted by the Clean Air Act.
Ozone is a pollutant that causes smog, and affects the breathing of millions of Americans. It has already been drastically curtailed, as evidenced by much cleaner air in big cities and far fewer smog alerts. But environmentalists believe that slashing the amount of ozone even further will improve the health of millions.
The sweeping regulation, which would aim at smog from power plants and factories across the country, particularly in the Midwest, would be the latest in a series of Environmental Protection Agency controls on air pollution that wafts from smokestacks and tailpipes. Such regulations, released under the authority of the Clean Air Act, have become a hallmark of President Obama’s administration.
Environmentalists and public health advocates have praised the E.P.A. rules as a powerful environmental legacy. Republicans, manufacturers and the fossil fuel industry have sharply criticized them as an example of costly government overreach.
