From TheBestLinks.com
The Clear Skies Act of 2003 is a federal law of the United States.
The law's Senate version (S. 485) was sponsored by James Inhofe of Oklahoma and George Voinovich of Ohio; the House version (H.R. 999) was sponsored by Joe Barton of Texas and Billy Tauzin of Louisiana. Both versions were introduced on February 27, 2003; all of the sponsors of the bill were Republicans.
The bill was passed by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by President George W. Bush. The law repeals or reduces air pollution controls, including those environmental protections of the Clean Air Act, including caps on toxic chemicals in the air and funding cuts for enforcement. The Act is opposed by conservationist groups such as the Sierra Club with Henry A. Waxman, a Democratic congressman of California, describing its title as "clear propaganda."
Among other things, the Clear Skies Act:
- Weakens the current cap on mercury pollution levels from five tons per year to 26 tons.
- Weakens the current cap on nitrogen oxide pollution levels from 1.25 million tons to 2.1 million tons, allowing 68 percent more NOx pollution.
- Weakens the current cap on sulphur dioxide pollution levels from two million tons to 4.5 million tons, allowing 225 percent more SO2 pollution.
- Delays enforcement of smog-and-soot pollution standards until 2015.
- Allows industrial buildings undergoing renovation, modernization, or expansion not to install machines that allow the building to come into current environmental standards compliance.
By 2018, the Clear Skies Act would allow 450,000 more tons of NOx, one million more tons of SO2, and 9.5 more tons of mercury than what would be allowed by enforcement of the Clean Air Act.
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