U.S. midwest counting on president Bush for electric utility, diesel emissions cleanup

Diesel Fuel News, July 21, 2003

According to an editorial in Cincinnati Post, it's up to U.S. President George Bush to fashion a compromise with Congress to slash emissions from coal-fired electric utilities, if cities have any chance of meeting upcoming National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS). "There are really only two pollution sources where big, cost-effective gains in air quality are possible: diesel engines in large trucks and buses, and coal-fired power plants," the Post editorial says.

"There's been progress -- albeit too slow and too timid -- with respect to diesel engines and fuels ... [but] the Bush administration's Clear Skies initiative [on power plant emissions] is an inadequate solution... A consensus has emerged that a better scheme is needed... More than anything, we need leadership. Given how the Bush administration chewed up and spit out former EPA director Christine Todd Whitman, a responsible moderate, however, we're not holdi ng our breath."