Monday, June 26, 2006
Editorial: Virginia gives a pass to air polluters
Preserving corporate profits justifies heavier breathing in the Old Dominion.
From the RoundTable blog
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Members of Virginia's Air Pollution Control Board must have a very loose understanding of the word "control." Last week, they unanimously voted to ease restrictions on power plants and factories that belch pollutants into the sky.
The new regulations affect companies when they install facilities that increase air pollution. The old rules had set tough emissions limits, requiring plants that make upgrades to install environmentally sound pollution-control devices. No longer.
Factory owners never liked the old rules because scrubbers and other anti-pollution technologies are costly. Cheaper, dirtier factories do not cut into the bottom line, and emissions blow downwind anyway.
The Bush administration heard those complaints and eased similar federal rules a few years ago. It also urged states to reconsider their policies.
Nothing prevents states from adopting tougher environmental rules than the federal government. Virginia could have kept its old emissions rules, perhaps with some updates to reflect changes over the couple of decades since they were adopted, and enjoyed cleaner air over time.
Instead, stories that corporations would choose other states with weaker rules -- such as West Virginia and Tennessee -- frightened the pollution board.
Its new regulations will allow companies to increase pollution if they are expanding to meet customer demand. So, for example, if demand for SUVs suddenly spikes and Ford decides to build a new factory to satisfy it, the company may do so without air quality standing in the way.
The board did throw one bone to the Virginians who have to breathe. The standards the state will use to measure air pollution are relatively tough. That's something, anyway.
It requires moral courage to do what is right when others are doing what is wrong, to stand up to the titans of industry and say, "No, we prize our clean air and will not let you pollute it to save a few dollars."
Virginia's Air Pollution Control Board shows little evidence of such courage these days.
