经济学人下载:环境保护遭遇攻击

The Republicans’ chief concern is the EPA’s authority, as affirmed by the Supreme Court in 2007, to regulate emissions of greenhouse gases. But more broadly they worry that the EPA is constantly tightening restrictions on pollution, at ever higher cost to business but with diminishing returns in terms of public health. They point to a slew of new rules about industrial boilers, cooling water at power plants, the disposal of coal ash, and emissions of mercury, ozone and other chemicals from smokestacks, which cumulatively, they say, will have a crippling effect on power generation and other industries. “Even God,” says Joe Barton, a Republican congressman, “couldn’t meet some of the ozone standards.”

共和党人最为关注的是环保局的权限，最高法院于2007年授权环保局管制温室气体排放。广泛地说，他们担心环保局不断制定越来越严格污染管制措施，使得企业需要付出更高的成本，而对改善公共健康而言，收益却在递减。共和党指出，针对工业锅炉、发电厂水冷却、煤灰处理、汞排放、烟囱臭氧及其他化学物质排放等制定的众多法规，共同重创了电厂和其他工业。共和党议员Joe Barton说，即使上帝也无法满足其中的一些空气标准。

Mr Barton is among the many Republicans in Congress who question whether global warming is caused by human activity, let alone whether the EPA should be trying to mitigate it by limiting emissions of greenhouse gases. The House has passed a measure that would rescind the EPA’s authority to do so, although it was blocked in the Senate, which the Democrats still control. The Republican leadership in the House has accused the administration of plotting to raise the price of energy through onerous regulation, in an effort to promote otherwise uncompetitive green technologies. It wants the EPA to give more weight to the impact on the economy and jobs when drawing up future rules.

许多共和党人仍然对人类活动是否是造成全球变暖的原因表示质疑，更别提环保局是否应该通过限制温室气体排放以缓和全球变暖。Mr Barton就是其中之一。众议院通过了一项旨在废除环保局温室气体管制权限的草案，但被共和党人控制的参议院驳回。众议院共和党领导人指责政府意图通过繁重的管制措施来提高能源价格进而促进本不具备竞争力绿色科技的发展。他们希望环保局在制定未来的管制措施时能够重视措施对经济的冲击和对就业的影响。

Republicans outside Congress are warming to the theme. In late May Chris Christie, the much-feted governor of New Jersey, withdrew his state from a regional pact to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions from power plants. Several prominent Republican candidates for president have recanted past support for curbs on greenhouse gases. One of them, Newt Gingrich, a former speaker of the House, says the EPA should be abolished altogether and an “environmental solutions agency” more sympathetic to business set up in its stead.

国会之外的共和党人也在积极参与这次争论，5月下旬，备受称赞的新泽西州州长Chris Christie 宣布新泽西退出旨在降低发电厂温室气体排放的一份区域协定。几位卓越的共和党总统候选人也已宣布不再支持对温室气体排放进行管制，前众议院发言人Newt Gingrich就是其中之一。他认为，应该撤销环保局，建立一个企业友好型的 “环境保护方案机构”来取代。