dragged it out for thirty years (Barton Gellman)

 
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 • Eric Schaeffer, chief of EPA's office of regulatory enforcement
“It's a lot of money. In the long run, finally, finally, most of these power plants will have scrubbers, but they've dragged it out for thirty years.”


Angler: the Cheney vice presidency, Barton Gellman, 2008

pp.208-209
Eric Schaeffer, chief of EPA's office of regulatory enforcement
“It's a lot of money. In the long run, finally, finally, most of these power plants will have scrubbers, but they've dragged it out for thirty years.”

   In his resignation letter, Schaeffer said the nine companies he sued “emit an incredible 5 million tons of sulfer dioxide every year (a quarter of the emission in the entire country) as well as 2 million tons of nitrogen oxide.”  The agency's uncontested scientific data showed that 10,800 died prematurely each year because of that pollution. The White House, he said, had snatched “defeat from the jaws of victory” because most of the plant owners had been ready to settle. Two of them withdrew from consent decrees. 
   As the second Bush-Cheney term neared an end, final rules had yet to be written or enforced. 
   “Every day you can postpone saves them a lot of money”, Schaeffer said in an interview, speaking of plant owners. “It's a lot of money. In the long run, finally, finally, most of these power plants will have scrubbers, but they've dragged it out for thirty years.” 

    (Angler: the Cheney vice presidency, Barton Gellman, 2008, pp.208-209, )
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