This from Derek Willis of The Scoop:
Jeff Claassen and Scott Streater of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and Seth Borenstein of Knight-Ridder combined to study federal environment enforcement of oil refineries, finding that since 2001, “federal and state authorities have sharply cut back on clean-air enforcement actions at many of the nation’s 145 oil refineries, even though they remain among the country’s worst air polluters.” Such regulatory actions peaked during the Clinton administration, but have fallen off during the Bush presidency. “Comprehensive clean-air inspections, a crucial step in identifying violations, are down 52 percent for refineries since 2001, compared with 4 percent for all industries. Notices of violations have plummeted 68 percent for refineries, compared with a 24 percent drop for all industries. And formal enforcement actions are down 31 percent for refineries but less than 1 percent for all industries nationwide.” The Environmental Protection Agency says that it has not cut its enforcement efforts but that it has pursued legal settlements called consent decrees.