I have to admit, I snickered rather audibly when I read little nugget in Obama's official statement: "I have continued to underscore the importance of reducing regulatory burdens and regulatory uncertainty, particularly as our economy continues to recover." Come on, that's a joke, right? But, lo and behold, the aforementioned statement was actually announcing at least a teeny, tiny step in the right direction:
In a dramatic reversal, President Barack Obama on Friday scrubbed a clean-air regulation that aimed to reduce health-threatening smog, yielding to bitterly protesting businesses and congressional Republicans who complained the rule would kill jobs in America's ailing economy.
Withdrawal of the proposed regulation marked the latest in a string of retreats by the president in the face of GOP opposition, and it drew quick criticism from liberals. Environmentalists, a key Obama constituency, accused him of caving to corporate polluters, and the American Lung Association threatened to restart the legal action it had begun against rules proposed by President George W. Bush.
The White House has been under heavy pressure from GOP lawmakers and major industries, which have slammed the stricter standard as an unnecessary jobs killer. The Environmental Protection Agency, whose scientific advisers favored the tighter limits, had predicted the proposed change would cost up to $90 billion a year, making it one of the most expensive environmental regulations ever imposed in the U.S.
Administrator Lisa Jackson and her 'independent regulatory agency' kill jobs like its their job (oh, wait...), and its sounds like neither the EPA nor their reality-challenged ilk were at all pleased with the President's decision. Oh, happy day! Could it be that two years of persistently dismal unemployment and the slowest. recovery. ever. have finally burst Obama's elitist bubble? After all of the failed stimuli, to the 'green' industry especially, it's about time the White House got the message.
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