Smog Rule Latest Green Policy Obama Bequeathing His Successors

With a far-reaching plan to cut smog unveiled Wednesday, President Barack Obama moved closer to solidifying an environmental framework that’s likely to impact the U.S. economy and Americans’ health for decades to come.

Rules the Environmental Protection Agency has or plans to issue to limit carbon pollution, enforce higher fuel economy and cut sulfur from gasoline will take at least a decade to fully implement, ensuring a lively debate between supporters and opponents for years after Obama leaves office.

The tighter limits proposed Wednesday for emissions of smog-producing ozone, for example, will phase in for most of the country by 2025.  Because California’s smog problems are so intense, the EPA said the cuts mandated for some areas of that state will phase in through 2037.

“This process will play out in the weeks, and months and years ahead,” Paul Billings, a senior vice president of the American Lung Association, said, referring to implementing standards for smog-producing ozone, which was unveiled yesterday.  “These issues never go away.”

Health advocates such as Billings say these plans will solidify health gains, cutting heart attacks, asthma episodes and premature deaths.  Republican lawmakers and industry lobbyists argue that it’s just this long-term impact that’s a problem, as the administration is locking in new standards that will impose billions of dollars of costs on businesses -- without real tangible benefit on health or the environment.

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