WASHINGTON -- Automakers are applauding a Bush administration plan to overhaul certain clean air regulations - even though the rules affect emissions from factory stacks, not tailpipes.
"This will give us the certainty that we crave," said Gloria Bergquist, vice president of the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers. She cautioned that the reaction is based on a preliminary review of the complex proposal.
Automakers and others have complained that complicated and vague clean air rules keep them from upgrading or maintaining older plants for fear the work will trigger costly EPA enforcement actions.
Environmental groups have promised to fight the Bush plan.
