Gov. George Ryan’s desire to suspend the Environmental Protection Agency’s new clean-gas standards are misguided and ultimately shortsighted (“Ryan tells EPA: Give us break, Governor blames gas prices on tough agency rules,” Metro, June 15). The fact is, the new formulation accounts for roughly 5 to 10 cents per gallon, which accounts for only a small portion of the recent sharp increases in gas prices.
The positive benefits of this new gasoline mixture, which benefits downstate farmers because of its reliance on ethanol, as well as upstate urban and suburban residents forced to breathe unhealthy air, far outweigh the financial burden that it places on our increasingly car-reliant society. The governor’s efforts would be better spent in trying to discover why the refiners’ price shock comes at the exact moment that they have been forced to meet new, more stringent pollution controls and to take some responsibility for the degradation of air quality in areas of high-population density.
The governor is doing exactly what the refiners want him to do. He’s trying to pin the blame on the one group, the environmentalists, that he should be joining in order to ensure that all Illinoisans, young and elderly especially, can enjoy the incalculable benefits of a safe, clean environment.
