Reaction Of Sen. Patrick Leahy
To Vermont Attorney General William H. Sorrell’s
Suit Against The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
For Its Final New Source Review Rule Changes, Published Today
October 27, 2003

“This is the biggest rollback of the Clean Air Act in its 33-year history.  Vermonters have as much at stake in this as anyone, and I applaud Attorney General Sorrell for his leadership in challenging this crass weakening of our environmental standards.  It is too bad that so many states have been pushed to the point of filing suits against the federal government to protect their citizens from dirty air from coal-fired power plants. 

“Last week’s GAO report made clear that the Bush Administration knows full well the impact this rule will have, and yet they have chosen to protect corporate polluters instead of the health of the American people.  This rollback should not be allowed to stand.  I hope that the courts and the court of public opinion together will prevail in reversing this and in taking back enforcement of our clean air laws from the influence of the big polluters.”

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[Sens. Jim Jeffords, Patrick Leahy and Joseph Lieberman last week asked EPA Inspector General Nikki L. Tinsley to investigate the handling of New Source Review (NSR) enforcement actions compiled by the EPA Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance and filed by the Department of Justice in 1999.  They specifically asked Tinsley to determine if actions by Jeffrey Holmstead, assistant EPA administrator for air and radiation, or other EPA personnel intentionally undermined the swift and environmentally protective resolution of NSR enforcement cases.  The senators cited the potentially misleading testimony that Holmstead gave the Senate last year in a joint hearing before the Judiciary Committee (chaired at the time by Leahy) and the Environment and Public Works Committee (chaired at the time by Jeffords).  The senators believe that a General Accounting Office (GAO) report they released last week on this topic buttresses their concerns.]