One common theme for the Bush administration is that it seems that many (if not most) of their appointments to head regulatory bodies are former lobbyists, advocates or executives for the industries that they will regulate. Today's example of this is Jeffrey Holmstead, Assistant Administrator, Air and Radiation, EPA.
I first noticed him referenced in stories about the current flap over proposed new mercury emission rules coming from the EPA. According to the LA Times:
Mercury was on the agenda at a staff meeting last spring at EPA headquarters presided over by Jeffrey Holmstead, a lawyer who represented industry interests on air-pollution issues before Bush appointed him to run the EPA's Office of Air and Radiation. Several of the staff members said they expected to discuss plans to carry out comparative studies of proposals to reduce mercury emissions. The studies, which had been requested by the federal advisory panel, were designed to examine the impact of mercury regulation on energy markets, electricity prices and public health.
But William Wehrum, a senior adviser to Holmstead who also represented industry clients before joining the Bush administration, told the dozen or so employees that comparative studies would be postponed indefinitely.
"I was floored," one participant said. "We pointed out that the studies were required ... that the data runs were promised to a federal advisory committee."
Holmstead did not respond to the expressions of concern, participants said. "There was an awkward silence," one recalled.
After the meeting, two staff members said, Holmstead informed them the studies would not be conducted partly because of "White House concern."
So who this guy? Here is a bio from Mother Jones:
From 1993 until his appointment to the EPA, Holmstead worked at the Washington law firm Latham & Watkins, representing the American Farm Bureau Federation in a case against the EPA, as well as Montrose Chemical and the Alliance for Constructive Air Policy. According to his official White House bio, Holmstead's work at the law firm "included a number of environmental issues--including many arising under the Clean Air Act." In fact,
Holmstead represented chemical companies and industry groups seeking looser pollution standards.
From 1989 to 1993, he served as associate counsel to President George H.W. Bush, advising him on environmental policy. Holmstead also served as an adjunct scholar for Citizens for the Environment, a libertarian group founded and funded by oil giants Charles and David Koch.
Holmstead is overseeing the administration's overhaul of Clean Air Act rules, which will allow industrial plants to expand without installing better pollution controls. When EPA scientists came up with data indicating that the administration's "Clear Skies" proposal would increase pollution, he reportedly replied, "How can we justify Clear Skies if this gets out?"
But wait there more:
He was also in the news last month because of remarks he made to representatives of the trucking industry. You see, in the last year of the Clinton administration, new rules were finalized that would require truck manufacturers to switch to new diesel engines which in turn would reduce air pollution. From the Atlanta Journal Constitution:
The EPA estimates that the costs of the new engines, which manufacturers must begin marketing by 2007, should be measured against 8,300 deaths that could be avoided each year when they are fully in use. The agency also concluded that the cleaner engines will result in 17,600 fewer cases of acute bronchitis and 360,000 fewer asthma attacks in children.
The engines could eventually help lower the amount of smog-causing nitrogen dioxide by about 2.6 million tons a year -- a major impact, especially in pollution-choked regions such as metro Atlanta.
But apparently Holmstead believes that the truck manufactures should get special tax breaks for not polluting our air and making citizens sick. Again from the AJC:
The Environmental Protection Agency has promised to help Rep. Mac Collins (R-Ga.) in his campaign to get tax breaks to offset trucking companies' cost for cleaner diesel engines.
EPA ordinarily does not advocate taxpayer assistance for the cost of meeting its new pollution standards, which are supposed to justify themselves in terms of the benefits they are designed to achieve.
However, Jeffrey Holmstead, head of EPA's air and radiation division, has said he would "work with" Collins on developing the legislation and promised to meet with him on the proposal.
EPA spokesman John Millett said Monday the meeting had not happened but likely will take place soon. Millett said EPA does not write tax policy but was sensitive to Collins' concerns.
The Georgia representative prevailed on Holmstead at a recent trucking conference to help with the proposed legislation, according to industry publications and people attending the conference.
Collins, of Jackson, is a former trucking company owner. He continues to draw $21,600 a year as an adviser to the family corporation, Collins Trucking Co., according to his House of Representatives financial disclosure reports.
This makes me sick.