One reason the EPA wins nearly every fight with industry, is the agency's ability to divide industry and fight smaller, winnable battles. In the EPA's "finer" moments..., the agency not only splinters industry, but turns one industry faction against another.
This technique is now on display in the lawsuit over the EPA's recent rules clamping down on smog-forming emissions from Midwestern utilities. Last September, the EPA issued new rules forcing expensive emission reductions on Midwestern power plants under the guise that these emissions floated hundreds of miles eastward to form smog over Northeastern states.
The rule let Northeastern states and industry escape responsibility for its own air pollution problems. Why? The Democratic Northeast is politically favored over the Republican Midwest.
Now, a Midwestern industry coalition has sued the EPA over the rules. In a fine display of industrial cannibalism, Northeastern businesses are lining up to support the EPA in the legal battle, filing petitions to intervene on behalf of the EPA [Michigan v. EPA, D.C. Cir., No. 98-1497, 10/30/98.]
This not just industry's problem. The costs are simply passed on to us. Here, Midwesterners will pay billions of dollars in higher electricity costs. Northeasterners will pay a price in not having their smog problem reduced in any meaningful way. And while Northeastern industry may have escaped the clutches of EPA this time, it's only a matter of time before the EPA gets them to.
In the end, the divide-and-conquer strategy only benefits the power-crazed EPA.
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