The agency wanted to finish the revision early this summer, but now admits it will miss that deadline. The rewrite is intended to answer a storm of criticism about the policy, which links civil rights and anti-pollution laws. Internal EPA documents obtained by The Detroit News indicate there's doubt within the agency that the rewrite can be finished this year, and a host of additional problems are hindering its attempts to deal with environmental justice cases. EPA Civil Rights Chief Ann Goode acknowledged the debut of the new plan has officially been moved back to late August or possibly early fall.
Critics say the delays are inexcusable.
But this bumbling is starting to hurt the people the EPA is trying to help. The rules, released in draft form in early 1998, are intended to ensure that industries don't take advantage of areas heavily populated by minorities to dump pollutants. But controversy erupted when a coalition of business groups, big city mayors such as Detroit's Dennis Archer and most governors opposed the policy, saying it could hurt job development. As a result of that opposition and a congressional investigation, the EPA agreed to rewrite the rules. According to agency documents and staff interviews, a cascade of problems is preventing the agency from meeting its self-imposed deadlines to make public revised regulations and start completing investigations.