Where’s The Precautionary Principle When We Need It?

Today’s Wall Street Journal (link for subscribers) has a short piece in the B section noting how a new Bush Administration “clean diesel” fuel mandate may be responsible for stranding school buses full of children in the extreme cold during recent weeks. The new EPA rule requires diesel users (including school buses) to switch to ultra-low-sulfur fuel in order to reduce air pollution. Unfortunately, the low-sulfur stuff also tends to turn from a liquid into a gel more readily in cold temperatures. Don’t the nice folks at EPA know that the precautionary principle requires them to “look before they leap” head first into adopting new technologies?