Ohio To Eliminate Pollution Regulations For Thousands Of Businesses

"Thousands of environmentally regulated businesses in Ohio could soon be allowed to operate without state permits to discharge air pollution. The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency said it is considering a major regulatory change not so much to cut industry a break but to lessen the burden on its own agency. Swamped by what it considers to be an unreasonable number of permit applications and reviews, the Ohio EPA said it will have more time for enforcement action against major polluters if it's not mired in paperwork from thousands of small sources.

Exemptions could apply, for example, to maintenance paint booths that factories use to paint factory parts. Devices known as shotblasters - machines that clean metal parts with sand blasts inside an enclosure - also could be exempt. "The paperwork is a resource drain," Linda Oros, an agency spokesman, said. "We're spending time reviewing these when we could be spending time going after bigger things."

The Ohio EPA's air division usually has active files on 72,000 to 80,000 units, while states with a comparable amount of industry review 10,000 to 20,000 sources. By exempting many of the smaller operations, it could save money without sacrificing air quality, Ms. Oros said. But environmental activists were incensed upon learning that many of the Ohio EPA's recommendations for its draft proposal came from a committee of industry lobbyists. Ms. Oros said environmental groups were invited to participate, but declined.

"I haven't found anybody who was invited. We weren't and we're the largest environmental group in the state," said Sandy Buchanan, the executive director of Ohio Citizen Action."

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http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20041106/NEWS06/411060342/-1/NEWS

They had better not get any ideas about letting companies dump their waste wherever they want.

have the owner take more responsibility for the paperwork and streamline the government oversight. With increasing popularity for ISO14000 government regulators should be able to use the outside agencies audits to reduce their burden.

are going to act like a bunch of coked-up high school dropouts in every facet of government. Back to the Middle Ages. Ironically, the Middle Ages in this country were much more pure and in tune with nature than the European Middle Ages. Oh, that was before Captain Syphilis Columbus "discovered" America. But that's another lie for another time.

Professor 2