A Revived EPA Takes on Climate Change and More

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http://www.usnews.com/articles/news/energy/2009/04/09/a-revived-epa-takes-on-climate-change-and-more.html

A Revived EPA Takes on Climate Change and More

Under President Obama, the Environmental Protection Agency is starting to flex its muscles again

By Kent Garber
Posted April 9, 2009

Over the past 10 weeks, the Environmental Protection Agency has been pumping out proposals and directives on everything from climate change to pollution from ships. In one high-profile move last month, the EPA said it will launch detailed reviews of permits for mountaintop coal mining operations, which can have profound effects on nearby waterways.

By moving so quickly, President Obama's EPA has in effect reproached the Bush administration for dawdling on climate change. In calling for tougher regulations, it has also criticized Bush officials for catering to businesses and industry. "There's a larger message that we have to give to the American people, which is that EPA is back on the job, that we are guardians protecting clean air and clean water," says EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson.

Because many of these proposals only begin to lay the groundwork for future regulations, they are, to a certain degree, still symbolic. Some Republicans say they have seen few surprises or radical moves, much to their relief. Nevertheless, the agency under the new administration has clearly enjoyed a dramatic boost in morale and stature after eight years of being stifled.

"They are very empowered, much more so now, to take action on some very controversial issues," says Christie Whitman, the former Republican governor of New Jersey who served as EPA chief in the Bush administration from 2001 to 2003, before resigning in frustration. "There is a whole different attitude." Unlike Bush, who once belittled the EPA as a "bureaucracy," Obama appears to view it as a central player in his clean-energy agenda.

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