Washington Post: The Environmental Protection Agency weakened one part of its new limits on smog-forming ozone after an unusual last-minute intervention by President Bush, according to documents released by the EPA.

EPA officials initially tried to set a lower seasonal limit on ozone to protect wildlife, parks and farmland, as required under the law. While their proposal was less restrictive than what the EPA's scientific advisers had proposed, Bush overruled EPA officials and on Tuesday ordered the agency to increase the limit, according to the documents.

"It is unprecedented and an unlawful act of political interference for the president personally to override a decision that the Clean Air Act leaves exclusively to EPA's expert scientific judgment," said John Walke, clean-air director for the Natural Resources Defense Council.

The president's order prompted a scramble by administration officials to rewrite the regulations to avoid a conflict with past EPA statements on the harm caused by ozone.

According to the Washington Post, Solicitor General Paul D. Clement warned administration officials late Tuesday night that the rules contradicted the EPA's past submissions to the Supreme Court, according to sources familiar with the conversation. As a consequence, administration lawyers hustled to craft new legal justifications for the weakened standard. On Friday, EPA Press Secretary, Jonathan Shradar said in a statement "EPA is unaware of either Paul Clement or anyone else in the Solicitor General's office ever stating or advising that "the rules contradicted the EPA's past submissions to the Supreme Court" as the Washington Post article today asserts."

Also on Friday US Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) called on EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson to explain why he overruled the recommendation of scientific advisors, and decided to issue a weaker standard for air pollution. Feinstein chairs the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on the Interior, Environment and Related Agencies. Feinstein also asked Johnson to address the White House's role in the matter, given the reports which suggest that it may have influenced a key part of his decision regarding ozone standards.

An unsigned editorial in the New York Times calls the move "permanently devalue the role of science while strengthening the hand of industry."

Related links
Press release from the EPA
Press Release from NRDC
Ozone rules weakened at Bush's Behest (Washington Post)
Statement by the U.S. EPA Press Secretary, Jonathan Shradar disavowing that Clement had provided advice
Press Release from Senator Feinstein