Press Mention Mountain Xpress December 5, 2011
SACE Referenced
OPINION: Did NC lead a retreat from cleaner national air standards?
In this mention
An op-ed from the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy questions whether North Carolina Governor Bev Perdue played a role in the Obama Administration's decision to drop efforts to strengthen ozone air standards. The piece cites reporting from the New York Times and Raleigh News & Observer and calls on the Governor to publicly clarify her position on clean air standards.
Recent articles in the New York Times and the Raleigh News & Observer suggested that North Carolina and its governor, Bev Perdue, may have played a key role in halting White House efforts to ratchet up the current ozone air standards.
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OPINION: Did NC lead a retreat from cleaner national air standards?
By Susan Andrew on 12/06/2011 10:58 AM
From the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy:
Recent articles in the New York Times and the Raleigh News & Observer suggested that North Carolina and its governor, Bev Perdue, may have played a key role in halting White House efforts to ratchet up the current ozone air standards. In September, the Obama Administration suddenly announced it was dropping its two-year effort to strengthen ozone standards to the science-based levels recommended by an independent scientific advisory committee.
Governor Perdue's office maintains that North Carolina's appeal to stick with current, inadequate public health protections came from a letter written in March 2010 by then-Head of the Division of Air Quality, Keith Overcash, which was sent directly to EPA without going through the Governor's office. If that is the case, we are still waiting for the Governor to publicly set the record straight by responding to the newspapers' revelations while she offers her support for stronger clean air standards.
See this piece in its entirety here:
http://blog.cleanenergy.org/2011/12/06/did-nc-lead-a-retreat-from-cleaner-air-standards/