Is the Obama Administration Playing Politics With Environmental Rules?

As the campaign season nears, many of the sweeping environmental regulations that the Obama administration made headlines for enacting are being held up over concerns about their effect on the President's election campaign, Juliet Eilperin reports.

February 14, 2012, 9am PST | Jonathan Nettler | @nettsj

Did you cheer when President Obama unveiled progressive rules aimed at curbing emissions from cars and light trucks, or regulating soot? As Eilperin points out, you may not be alone, since many of the regulations now being held up have received widespread support from environmentalists and industry alike.

So why the holdup you ask? Eilperin explains that the rules being sidetracked, "could impose new costs on consumers and certain sectors of the economy, which has sparked opposition and complicated the administration's political calculus."

"'Behind the scenes [the Environmental Protection Agency] is pressing to get rules out before the administration pulls up the drawbridge and goes into campaign mode,' said Joe Stanko, who heads government relations at the law firm Hunton & Williams. 'It will be a battle to see how far down EPA's shopping list they get.'"

Full Story:

Obama administration slows environmental rules as it weighs political cost

Published on Sunday, February 12, 2012 in The Washington Post