NFIB

Court Approves EPA's Tougher Air Pollution Rules
03/27/2002

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) yesterday won a major victory when the Supreme Court gave the go-ahead on a Clinton-era environmental regulation that toughens air pollution standards, the AP reports.

First issued in 1997, the rules raised serious concerns among some business groups that claimed the EPA had arbitrarily set the costly new rules and that the agency had not used sound science in determining the standards.

State and local governments will now have to find ways to reduce the amount of smog-causing chemicals and fine soot released into the air. The EPA says these chemicals are harmful to small children, the elderly and people with respiratory problems.