US environmental groups and progressive Democrats are furious at a decision by the Obama administration to abandon plans to impose stricter ozone pollution standards and stick with the looser Bush-era standards.

 The announcement (September 2) came as an unexpected slap in the face for Lisa Jackson, the current EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) administrator who thought she had her President’s backing to reverse the Bush standards and revert to full compliance with the Clean Air Act.

 In announcing the decision before a surprised gathering of environmental and public health leaders at the White House, President Obama said the move was part of an effort to reduce regulatory burdens for business.  The President has been under considerable pressure from Republicans in Congress who are on the warpath about paying too much for environmental protection.

John Engler, President of the Business Roundtable, an association of leading CEOs, said that the revising the rules “would be the equivalent of posting signs on the US economy: ‘Closed for Business.’”

Nobel Prize-winning economist, Paul Krugman believes the opposite is the case. “Tighter ozone regulation would actually have created jobs,” he said in his blog for the New York Times.  “It would have forced firms to spend on upgrading or replacing equipment, helping to boost demand. Yes, it would have cost money – but that’s the point!”

Frances Beinecke, President of the NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council) in New York reacted angrily to the announcement, saying “delaying standards for smog lets polluters off the hook. President Obama has come down on the side of polluters and those extreme forces who deny the value of government standards.” She said that NRDC will challenge the decision in court.

And Justin Rubin, executive director of MoveOn.org, an online political group that played a significant role in Barack Obama’s 2008 election, called the decision devastating. “This is a decision we’d expect from George W. Bush,” he said.  Others worry that it may further discourage Obama supporters who have complained that he is making too many concessions to Republican and big business interests.