The EPA originally tried to order a sharp reduction in NOX emissions. But in a legal challenge filed by a coalition of Midwestern states and energy producers, the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., struck down the rules as an abuse of the EPA's regulatory authority. The regulations, the court concluded, were based on political rather than scientific principles. And in May, the EPA for the first time allowed several Northeastern states to petition the agency to order cuts in Midwestern NOX emissions. Research by Michigan and neighboring states has found that ozone transport plays only a minor role in East Coast air quality.
Local sources contribute far more, as do weather patterns.
With the campaign season fast approaching and her regulatory authority undergoing legal scrutiny, Ms. Browner is pressing the Northeastern and Midwestern states to strike a compromise. But Michigan and its Midwestern partners recently rejected the emission cuts proposed by the Northeast contingent, and prospects for a settlement appear grim. Whether a negotiated settlement would even be enforceable is in doubt. Rescuing Carol Browner from the political hot seat just isn't reason enough. Our view Michigan should not allow the Environmental Protection Agency to impose new smog regulations on it that the agency may not even have the authority to promulgate.