Boxer said she disagreed 'strongly' with the decision to punt the regulation until at least 2013. Boxer: I hope greens sue Obama

Senate Environment and Public Works Chairwoman Barbara Boxer said she hopes green groups sue President Barack Obama over his decision to punt a regulation curbing smog-creating emissions until at least 2013.

Boxer — whose relatively mild reaction to Obama’s surprise announcement Friday was in contrast to heated rebukes by environmental groups — said she will stand by those groups in any litigation to force the administration to issue a final ozone rule that goes beyond what was enacted by President George W. Bush.


Environmental groups charged that Obama made a political calculus by punting on a rule that was a particular target of critics who charge his regulatory agenda has hurt the economy and jobs.

Boxer didn’t quite go there. “I’m not making any charge. I’m just saying I disagree, strongly, with their decision,” she told reporters Tuesday. She added, “And I hope they’ll be sued in court and I hope the court can stand by the Clean Air Act.”

Noting that every president regardless of political party has been sued by environmental groups, Boxer said, “And I’m on the side of the environmentalists. If you factor in the health benefits you save so many lives and you prevent so many hospital admissions that it’s a big plus for the economy.”

Boxer issued a statement Friday saying she was “disappointed” in the decision but also “heartened” by Obama’s pledge in his announcement to safeguard the EPA and more specifically the Clean Air Act.

On Tuesday, she defended the milder tone of Friday’s statement.

“I’m involved in a hand-to-hand combat with people in the House; they’re trying to destroy the EPA, destroy the Clean Air Act,” Boxer said, noting she fought a similar battle when GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich was House speaker more than a decade ago. “So I was heartened to see that the president went out of his way to address the larger issue of this battle that we’re facing.”

She added: “So that’s why the statement was balanced because I thought what he said was balanced.”

Obama — in a letter to House Speaker John Boehner last week — listed the ozone rule at the top of the list of seven regulations whose annual costs top $1 billion annually. The rule was estimated to cost between $19 billion and $90 billion annually.

Boxer said she would use a hearing called by Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) on the ozone rule to “examine the charge that this type of regulation actually harms our economy. I don’t believe that. Because I don’t think they’re factoring in the health benefits.”

This article first appeared on POLITICO Pro at 8:52 a.m. on September 7, 2011.