奥巴马的环境政绩仰仗40年前旧环保法

WASHINGTON — President Obama could leave office with the most aggressive, far-reaching environmental legacy of any occupant of the White House. Yet it is very possible that not a single major environmental law will have passed during his two terms in Washington.

华盛顿——奥巴马总统可能会成为入住白宫者中以最积极、最影响深远的环境遗产卸任的人。然而，在他的两个总统任期中，也有非常大的可能连一项环境立法都通不过。

Instead, Mr. Obama has turned to the vast reach of the Clean Air Act of 1970, which some legal experts call the most powerful environmental law in the world. Faced with a Congress that has shut down his attempts to push through an environmental agenda, Mr. Obama is using the authority of the act passed at the birth of the environmental movement to issue a series of landmark regulations on air pollution, from soot to smog, to mercury and planet-warming carbon dioxide.

奥巴马取而代之的做法是，充分利用1970年通过的《清洁空气法》，一些法律专家称之为世界上最强大的环境法律。面对阻止他推动环境议程之努力的国会，奥巴马正在动用这项环保运动诞生时通过的法律的权威，来发布一系列针对空气污染的具有里程碑意义的规定，从控制烟灰和雾霾，到控制汞和让地球变暖的二氧化碳。

The Supreme Court could still overturn much of Mr. Obama’s environmental legacy, although the justices so far have upheld the regulations in three significant cases. More challenges are expected, the most recent of which was taken up by the court on Tuesday. The act, however, was designed by lawmakers in a Democratic Congress to give the Environmental Protection Agency, which was created at the same time, great flexibility in its interpretation of the law.

虽然最高法院仍可能会推翻许多奥巴马遗留下来的环境规定，但是迄今为止，大法官们在三个重要案件中都维持了这些规定。这些规定预计将面临更多挑战，其中最新的一个周二由最高法院处理。然而，《清洁空气法》是民主党控制下的国会立法者为在法律解释方面赋予同时成立的国家环境保护局(Environmental Protection Agency)极大的灵活性而设计的。

“It’s the granddaddy of public health and environmental legislation,” said Paul Billings, a vice president of the American Lung Association. “It empowers the E.P.A. and states to be bold and creative.”

“这是公众健康和环境立法的鼻祖，”美国肺脏协会副会长保罗·比林斯(Paul Billings)说。“它赋予环保局及各州力量，让它们变得大胆且有创造性。”

Gina McCarthy, the E.P.A. administrator, credits the act for the authority that Mr. Obama claims in setting environmental policy. “The administration is relying very heavily on this tool that Congress provided us 44 years ago,” she said.

环保局局长吉娜·麦卡锡(Gina McCarthy)把奥巴马赖以制定环境政策的权威归功于《清洁空气法》。她说，“政府高度依赖国会44年前为我们提供的这个工具。”

Jody Freeman, director of Harvard University’s environmental law program, and a former counselor to the president, said Mr. Obama was using the Clean Air Act “to push forward in a way that no president ever has.”

哈佛大学的环境法项目主任、总统的一位前顾问乔迪·弗里曼(Jody Freeman)说，奥巴马用《清洁空气法》“推进环保的方式，在总统中前所未有”。

Taken together, the Clean Air Act regulations issued during the Obama administration have led to the creation of America’s first national policy for combating global warming and a fundamental reshaping of major sectors of the economy, specifically auto manufacturing and electric utilities. The regulations could ultimately shut down existing coal-fired power plants, freeze construction of new coal plants and end demand for the nation’s most polluting fuel.

总地来说，奥巴马执政期间颁布的《清洁空气法》规定让美国首次制定了针对全球变暖的全国性政策，在根本上重新塑造了重要的经济行业，尤其是汽车制造业和电力行业。这些规定可能最终导致现有燃煤发电厂的关闭，冻结新燃煤发电厂的建设，结束美国对这种污染最严重的燃料的需求。

Republicans and the coal industry have attacked the new rules as a “war on coal.”

共和党人和煤炭工业已抨击这些新规是“向煤炭宣战”。

Mr. Obama’s most recent regulation, proposed on Wednesday, would curb factory and coal-plant emissions of ozone, a smog-causing pollutant linked to asthma, heart disease and premature death. That regulation is the latest of six new rules intended to rein in emissions of hazardous pollutants from factory and power-plant smokestacks, including soot, mercury, sulfur and nitrogen oxide.

奥巴马周三提出的最新规定将减少工厂和燃煤发电厂的臭氧排放，臭氧是一种引起雾霾的污染物，与哮喘、心脏疾病和过早死亡有关。这项规定是旨在限制工厂和发电厂的烟囱排放有害污染物的六项规定之一，被限制的污染物还包括烟灰、汞、硫，以及氮氧化物。

The most consequential regulations are those that cut emissions of carbon dioxide, the gas dispersed from automobile tailpipes and coal plants and which contributes to global warming.

那些旨在减少二氧化碳排放的规定最为重要，汽车排气管和燃煤发电厂都排放这种导致全球变暖的气体。

More rules are on the way: By the end of the year, the E.P.A. is expected to announce plans for regulating the emission of methane at natural gas production facilities.

还会有更多的规定出台：环保局预计将在今年年底宣布限制天然气生产设施甲烷排放的计划。

Republicans and industry leaders have fought back against the rules, attacking them as “job-killing” regulations. “The Clean Air Act is a direct threat,” said Hal Quinn, president of the National Mining Association.

共和党人和工业领袖对这些规定进行了回击，抨击它们“扼杀工作机会”。美国国家矿业协会会长哈尔·奎因(Hal Quinn)说，“《清洁空气法》是一个直接的威胁。”

Among the fiercest critics is Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky, who is expected to take over as majority leader in the next Congressional term and whose home state is a major producer of coal. Mr. McConnell has vowed to put forth legislation to block or delay the administration’s regulations.

批评者中最激烈的是肯塔基州共和党参议员米奇·麦康奈尔(Mitch McConnell)，他预计将在下届国会中接任多数党领袖，他的家乡是主要的煤炭生产地。麦康奈尔已发誓要用立法来阻止或延缓政府规定的实行。

Although the E.P.A. regulations are today the target of Republican ire, in 1970 the Clean Air Act passed with overwhelming bipartisan support, clearing the Senate with a vote of 73 to 0. President Richard M. Nixon, a Republican, signed the bill into law. “The idea was to give E.P.A. broad authority, making sure that it had tools to exercise this authority,” said Robert Nordhaus, an environmental lawyer who, as a staff lawyer in the House legislative counsel’s office, helped draft the law. Today Mr. Nordhaus is a senior partner at the environmental law firm Van Ness Feldman.

虽然环保局的规定如今是共和党愤怒的目标，但在1970年，《清洁空气法》得到了压倒性的两党支持，以73对0的票数于参议院通过，共和党人、理查德·尼克松总统将该法案签署为法律。“当时的想法是赋予环保局广泛的权力，并确保它有行使这种权力的工具，”环保律师罗伯特·诺德豪斯(Robert Nordhaus)说，那时他作为众议院立法委办公室的一个专职律师，协助起草了该法律。如今，诺德豪斯是环境律师事务所Van Ness Feldman的高级合伙人。

Another Republican president, the first George Bush, enacted a 1990 update to the Clean Air Act, which strengthened the E.P.A.’s authority to issue regulations. Mr. McConnell was among the 89 senators who voted for passage of the 1990 law. “I had to choose between cleaner air and the status quo,” Mr. McConnell said at the time. “I chose cleaner air.”

另一位共和党总统，老乔治·布什(George Bush)，在1990年让更新后的《清洁空气法》生效，加强了环保局发布规定的权威。麦康奈尔是1990年对通过该法律投了赞成票的89名参议员之一。 麦康奈尔在当时曾说，“我要在清洁空气和现状之间做出选择。我选择了更清洁的空气。”

The 1990 iteration of the Clean Air Act also included requirements that the E.P.A. issue, and periodically update, regulations on pollutants such as ozone and mercury. Some of Mr. Obama’s new regulations are a result of that requirement.

1990年版的《清洁空气法》还包括了要求环保局发布并定期更新限制例如臭氧和汞等污染物的规定。奥巴马的新规定中有些是这一要求的结果。

Mr. Obama, however, is the first president to use the law to fight global warming. After trying and failing to push a new climate-change law through Congress aimed at curbing greenhouse gas pollution, the president went back to the Clean Air Act.

但是，奥巴马是第一位用《清洁空气法》来对付全球变暖的总统。在推动国会通过一项新的气候变化法律以限制温室气体排放的尝试以失败告终之后，总统回到了《清洁空气法》。