Bush administration’s rule changes on the Clean Air Act (Letter to the Editor)

To the Editor:

The Bush administration’s rule changes on the Clean Air Act’s new source review program should be judged in context (news article, Aug. 28). This program is only one of many provisions in the law that deal with power plant emissions.

Others, including the acid rain program, require substantial pollution reductions by power plants.

Indeed, emissions of the major pollutants addressed by the act have declined substantially. And with several new provisions on the way, including a required 60 percent reduction in smog-forming nitrogen oxides beginning in 2004, this encouraging trend is likely to continue.

Even if the Bush administration’s reform package is as anti-environmental as some critics claim — a highly debatable assertion — the impact, given the other provisions on power plants, is unlikely to be of consequence.