Senators Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow recently stood up for the people of Michigan by voting to oppose rollbacks of the New Source Review (NSR) program, which regulates pollution from older power plants.

The Bush Administration issued rules at the end of 2002 that would ease NSR requirements that force power plants and oil refineries to reduce their air pollution if they expand. This set of regulatory changes adds up to the largest regulatory weakening of clean air protections in the 30-year history of the Clean Air Act. The changes would threaten public health by increasing the rates of asthma and other illnesses related to declining lung function. This is to say nothing of the severe environmental impacts of air pollution, such as acid rain, mercury contamination and haze in our national parks and wilderness areas.

Senator John Edwards (D-NC) offered an amendment to the 2003 omnibus spending bill to block these weaker rules until their impacts are studied. The amendment would have stopped EPA from using funds appropriated by Congress for the current fiscal year to implement any of the final changes made to the NSR program. It also would have required a National Academy of Sciences study on the health impacts of the final NSR rollback rules.

Although the measure ultimately failed to pass, an extremely close outcome in the face of stiff industry pressure clearly demonstrated strong, widespread opposition to any weakening of the Clean Air Act. Senators Levin and Stabenow were among those who supported the Edwards amendment. MEC is grateful to both for demonstrating strong leadership on this critical vote for public health and the environment.