A layer of smog can be seen above Manhattan. The EPA punted Wednesday on finishing an air quality rule before the end of the year. | REUTERS EPA punts on smog rule

The Obama administration will delay issuing a new smog reduction plan, the second controversial air pollution rule the Environmental Protection Agency has punted in the past two days.

EPA was facing a court deadline to finalize its national air quality rule for ozone, or smog, by Dec. 31, but the agency is now planning to delay the rule until next July, spokesman Brendan Gilfillan confirmed Wednesday.


On Tuesday, EPA announced it would delay a major air toxics rule for industrial boilers, such as those used at oil refineries and paper mills, after coming under fire from myriad industry groups and lawmakers claiming it would cripple the economy.

With lawmakers on both sides of the aisle vowing to work to scale back EPA regulations in the next session, many attribute EPA’s delays to political motivations. The incoming GOP majority in the House has pledged to limit many of the pending EPA rules they see as overreaching, including the smog standard and the boiler air toxics rule.

“I guess the handwriting was on the wall when the EPA announced yesterday that it was stalling a final decision on rules to clean up poisons from industrial boilers,” said Frank O’Donnell, president of the advocacy group Clean Air Watch. “It is hard to avoid the impression that EPA is running scared from the incoming Congress.”

This is the third time EPA has stalled its final smog standard. EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson announced in 2009 that her agency would tighten the George W. Bush administration’s final standard, arguing that it fell short of protecting public health.

The Obama EPA estimated that its stricter standards would help prevent up to 12,000 premature deaths and save up to $100 billion in health costs.

EPA needs more time to get further input from the agency's science advisers before setting the final standard, Gilfillan said. "Given this ongoing scientific review, EPA intends to set a final standard in the range recommended" by the science advisers.

Howard Feldman of the American Petroleum Institute said there is no new scientific data to justify setting what he called an “unattainable standard” that would put virtually all states out of compliance. Feldman said he also hopes EPA will consider delaying “any other costly or unworkable proposals, such as greenhouse gases.”