New Smog Standard A Victory for Science, Says NYT

The new ground-level-ozone proposal sets the standard "at somewhere between 0.060 and 0.070 parts per million", tighter than the Bush administration's "less exacting and less protective standard of 0.075 parts per million". While the cost to industry may be substantial, the editorial makes no bones as to whether the benefits outweigh the costs.

"Mr. Obama's Environmental Protection Agency is now proposing to get rid of this rule and replace it with a stronger standard. This would result in cleaner air and better health for millions of Americans.

Apart from their health advantages, the new rules proposed reflect the administration's effort to restore science, as opposed to politics, to its rightful place in environmental rule-making.

Lisa Jackson, the E.P.A.'s administrator, should stick to her guns. When Carol Browner, then the administrator, first tightened health standards for smog and other pollutants like soot in 1997, industry groups rose up as one, predicting bankruptcy. But technology almost always catches up. In the end, costs are a fraction of the original claims, and the air is a lot cleaner."