Collyer was no liberal. A Bush appointee, she had held two political posts during the Reagan administration. But now she cast a wary eye at the lawyer for the EPA.
"So you're saying EPA could just keep granting itself extensions?" Collyer asked.
Yes, the lawyer said.
The judge shook her head and invoked Peter Pan.
"It's Never-Never Land," she said.
The lawyer insisted that the EPA was working on the problem.
Incredulous, Collyer held up a thumb and index finger an inch apart. "This -" she said, holding her fingers aloft - "this is how much EPA has done."
The judge's exasperation with the EPA's manipulation of air pollution rules mirrored reactions in cases by other federal judges.
In a dozen cases since 2001, federal judges in Washington have used increasingly caustic language to throw out EPA regulations, chastising the Bush administration for illegally changing U.S. environmental rules. Most decisions were rendered by the conservative U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.
The result: The EPA's most significant new air-pollution initiatives lie in tatters, creating uncertainty for those who worry about the environment and human health, as well as for businesses that have spent billions to meet new EPA standards that no longer exist. When the courts killed one Bush rule in July, the decision triggered immediate market losses that cost at least one Pennsylvania power company, PPL Corp. of Allentown, $33 million.
Taxpayers are losers, too. According to the EPA's own figures, the agency spent at least $53 million to create these now-defunct rules.
Most of the court decisions against the EPA were not close calls. Nearly every key appellate ruling on air pollution was unanimous and bipartisan. Two-thirds of the votes against the EPA were cast by judges appointed by Republican presidents, according to an Inquirer analysis.
