Susan Collins: “when a lower court ruled in 1999 against new Federal air standards, reasonable persons expected the EPA to delay further…”

“when a lower court ruled in 1999 against new Federal air standards, reasonable persons expected the EPA to delay further implementation of the standards until the Supreme Court ruled on the agency's appeal. Instead, the EPA is pushing forward with rules that force State and local governments across the country to spend thousands of dollars to comply with new invalid standards. To stop this waste of taxpayer money, the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Linder) and I will offer an amendment to VA/HUD later today which will prevent the EPA from moving forward with the designation of new nonattainment areas until such time as the Supreme Court makes a decision. State and local governments could better use their resources to help their communities to comply with the rules that may never become legally enforceable. Our amendment is simple. It does not affect existing air quality standards, nor does it render judgment on the new standards. It only requires EPA to postpone further action until the Supreme Court issues a final ruling. It is common sense to postpone the designation process until we are certain that it will not be a huge waste of Federal, State and local resources.”