by Carol Browner

About the author: Carol Browner served as administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency from 1993 to 2001.

Editor’s note: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued new national air quality standards in 1997, setting tighter limits on ground-level ozone (smog) and fine particles (soot) under the Clean Air Act. Many industries, including chemical and trucking companies, opposed the new regulations and sued the EPA on the grounds that they would be too costly to implement. In February 2001, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled in favor of the EPA, affirming the EPA’s authority to set national air quality standards solely on the basis of health considerations. As of January 2002, it remained unclear as to whether the Bush administration would direct the EPA to enforce the new regulations.

On July 19, 1997, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued its...