Ozone is the primary component in smog

The EPA was supposed to announce tougher ozone emission standards today, but for some unexplained reason, they've decided not to make an announcement.

The Environmental Protection Agency is postponing an announcement Wednesday on whether it plans to tighten federal air quality requirements for smog.

Officials and lobbyists said they had been told the EPA was ready to announce it would tighten the federal ozone, or smog, standard to 75 parts per billion. That's a concentration that falls short of what health experts have said is needed to protect children and the elderly. Business groups have argued that the current 80 parts per billion should not be changed.

EPA spokesman Jonathan Shradar confirmed that the announcement was being postponed and said he could not say whether it would be rescheduled.

Ozone is, of course, the primary component in the smog we see floating above our cities. It's a hazard to the health of not just humans, but the rest of the living world as well.

The worst part about this is that the EPA official didn't know if they were going to reschedule the announcement or not. If they're not, it effectively means that they're not going to call for tougher standards, and that means corporate lobbyists got their way once again. They've once again cried that it costs too much to clean their emissions of toxic chemicals, and once again the government has apparently given in.

As Chris at Americablog says, don't they breathe the air, too?

Don't these people breath? Don't they pay for health care? Surely the EPA and White House are not blind to the health care costs involved with polluted air. It's hard to imagine such a small slice of society holding so much power over others but for the Republicans, they consistently only care about what industry wants without consideration for everyone else.

We'll just have to wait and see if they reschedule the announcement for another day, or if this one is done for good.