经济学人下载:环境保护遭遇攻击

EPA officials appear baffled by this barrage of hostility. All the regulations they are promulgating, they point out, are based on laws passed by Congress, usually on a bipartisan basis. The Clean Air Act, for example, which is the basis of the EPA’s proposed regulation of greenhouse gases, was signed by Richard Nixon, and strengthened with the support of George Bush senior, both Republicans. The agency, they say, already conducts cost-benefit analyses of all important regulations, in addition to submitting them for expert review and public comment. Every dollar spent on pollution controls mandated by the Clean Air Act, including the ozone restrictions that Mr Barton is complaining about, will bring $30 in benefits to public health, the EPA reckons.

针对如此密集的反对声，环保局官员显得很不理解。他们指出，所有颁布的规定都是以国会（通常是共和党和民主党共同参与）批准通过法律为基础的。例如，环保局起草的温室气体管制方案是以洁净空气法案为基础的，而洁净空气法案是共和党人Richard Nixon签署并得到共和党人老布什总统的进一步支持。另外，环保局所有重要的法规不仅咨询了专家意见及公共建议，同时还进行了成本效益分析。环保局估计，用于洁净空气法案规定的污染控制的每一美元都将给公共健康带来30美元的回报。

Under Mrs Jackson many of the most significant new rules are also being subjected to a separate review of the impact on jobs; though since onerous environmental restrictions can be labour-intensive, that is not always a good measure of the overall economic benefit. Moreover, the EPA is producing so many regulations at once in part because it is legally bound to. One of the rules the Republicans are complaining about, regarding mercury, arsenic and other toxic chemicals released by power plants, has been in the works for over 20 years. The EPA’s original regulations on the subject were thrown out by the courts as too lax. Anyway, so a combative official told her Republican interrogators earlier this year, complaints about the toll on business of pollution controls are almost always wildly exaggerated.

在Mrs Jackson领导下，许多重要的新法规都需要单独评估其对就业市场的影响，尽管繁重的环境管制措施可能会对劳动密集型产业产生影响，但是，这样的片面的评估并不总能体现出它对整体经济利益的影响。此外，环保局同时出台如此众多的管制措施，部分原因是由于其法律上的义务。共和党人控拆的其中一项规定是针对发电厂排放汞、砷及其它有毒物质的规定，这项规定用了20年才最终出台。法院曾以管制措施过于松散为由驳回了环保局最初的草案。无论如何，一名官员在面对共和党人质询时曾说，人们在报怨环境保护措施给企业带来不利影响时总是极尽夸张之能。

Yet the EPA is clearly stung by the criticism. The White House recently announced that the agency had scrapped a rule requiring leaks of dairy products to be treated as oil spills, as part of a government-wide review of red tape that may be impeding economic growth. It is now considering revisions to a further 31 regulations. It has also delayed the implementation of the new regulations concerning industrial boilers, after loud complaints from the businesses affected. And it seems in no hurry to use its authority over greenhouse gases, settling instead for a lengthy rule-drafting period that could forestall the imposition of any restrictions until after next year’s elections.

但是批评显然让环保局备受煎熬。白宫近日宣布，在进行的一项政府范围内对可能阻碍经济发展的红头文件的复审中，环保局取消了一项要求将乳制品泄漏与石油泄漏同等处理的规定。同时环保局正考虑对另31项法规进行修订。另外，由于被影响企业的极力报怨，环保局推迟了有关工业锅炉管制的新法规的执行。看来，环保局并不急于使用他们的温室气体排放管制权利，而是满足于冗长的法规起草过程，从而阻止了任何管制条例在明年的选举之前的实施。