September 2, 2011
By Ben Geman and Erik Wasson
The White House announced Friday that it is shelving a major planned EPA regulation that would have tightened smog standards, dealing a huge blow to environmentalists that had pushed the Obama administration to resist industry pressure to abandon the regulation.
President Obama announced that the rule is being shelved in a statement that says the White House is wary of imposing regulatory burdens during the economic recovery.
The decision follows immense pressure from industry groups, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the American Petroleum Institute, which lobbied hard against the EPA decision to tighten Bush-era ozone standards.
In a letter to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, the top regulatory official for the administration said President Obama “does not support finalizing the [smog] rule at this time.”
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