Untitled Document
Researchers who work for the U.S. Congress say the Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) skewed its analysis of air pollution legislation to favour President George
W. Bush's plan.
EPA's analysis "works in favour of" Bush's plan by overstating some
costs of competing bills, said a report yesterday by the Congressional Research
Service. The 2002 Bush plan remains stalled in Congress.
"EPA's analysis is not as useful as one could hope," the report concludes.
It took three years for the EPA to provide comparisons of Bush's plan with
competing versions by senators Tom Carper and James Jeffords.
When it did in October, the EPA said its analysis showed the superiority of
the Bush proposal, which relies on market forces to cut pollution from the 600
coal-burning power plants in the U.S., but does not address global warming.
EPA officials dismissed any notion of playing favourites.
"It does a real disservice to this discussion to have an analysis that
makes unfounded and inaccurate conclusions," spokesperson Eryn Witcher
said.
