2015考研英语阅读环境保护遭遇攻击

　　Environmentalism under fire

　　环境保护遭遇攻击

　　Soaring emissions

　　不断增加的废气污染

　　The rhetoric about environmental controls killingjobs is getting louder and louder

　　声称环境保护会导致就业机会减少的言论愈演愈烈

　　ISNT it odd, asks Henry Waxman, a Democratic congressman from California, how the sameRepublicans who make such a fuss about abortion do not seem to care if the unborn arepoisoned by toxic chemicals such as mercury? Isnt it strange, Republicans retort, that peoplelike Mr Waxman, who profess to care about working Americans, cheer on bureaucratsdetermined to smother business and destroy jobs? It may be hard to discern amid themelodramatic rhetoric, but the two sides are talking about the Environmental ProtectionAgency, and the various new rules it has in the works to curb pollution. Besides the endlesstoing and froing about government spending, it has become the most fiercely debated topic inCongress.

　　来自加州的民主党议员Henry Waxman称，反对堕胎并对此大作文章的共和党人似乎并不担忧未出生的胎儿是否会受到例如水银这样的有毒物质的毒害;共和党则声称，像Mr Waxman这样宣称关心美国人就业问题却为誓要抑制美国企业成长减少就业的官僚们呐喊助威。我们似乎很难从这些夸张的言论中辨别事非，不过，民主党和共和党争论的对像都是美国环保局以及环保局正在起草的各类污染管制法规。继关于政府开支没完没了的争论之后，环境污染管制成了国会又一激烈争论的对象。

　　As soon as they took control of the House of Representatives in January, Republicans begansummoning Lisa Jackson, the head of the EPA, and several of her underlings to answerquestions about their job-killing ways. Fred Upton, the head of the committee responsible forenergy and environmental regulation, joked that she would be on Capitol Hill so often shewould need her own parking space.

　　1月，共和党刚接管众议院就随即召集了环保局主管Lisa Jackson以及她的几位下属，询问关于环保局制定的扼杀就业的各种环保措施。能源和环境管制委员会主席Fred Upton说，Lisa Jackson去国会的次数频繁到几乎要单独给她安排一个车位。

　　The Republicans chief concern is the EPAsauthority, as affirmed by the Supreme Court in2007, to regulate emissions of greenhouse gases.But more broadly they worry that the EPA isconstantly tightening restrictions on pollution, atever higher cost to business but with diminishingreturns in terms of public health. They point to aslew of new rules about industrial boilers, coolingwater at power plants, the disposal of coal ash, andemissions of mercury, ozone and other chemicalsfrom smokestacks, which cumulatively, they say, willhave a crippling effect on power generation and other industries. Even God, says Joe Barton,a Republican congressman, couldnt meet some of the ozone standards.

　　共和党人最为关注的是环保局的权限，最高法院于2007年授权环保局管制温室气体排放。广泛地说，他们担心环保局不断制定越来越严格污染管制措施，使得企业需要付出更高的成本，而对改善公共健康而言，收益却在递减。共和党指出，针对工业锅炉、发电厂水冷却、煤灰处理、汞排放、烟囱臭氧及其他化学物质排放等制定的众多法规，共同重创了电厂和其他工业。共和党议员Joe Barton说，即使上帝也无法满足其中的一些空气标准。

　　Mr Barton is among the many Republicans in Congress who question whether global warming iscaused by human activity, let alone whether the EPA should be trying to mitigate it by limitingemissions of greenhouse gases. The House has passed a measure that would rescind theEPAs authority to do so, although it was blocked in the Senate, which the Democrats stillcontrol. The Republican leadership in the House has accused the administration of plotting toraise the price of energy through onerous regulation, in an effort to promote otherwiseuncompetitive green technologies. It wants the EPA to give more weight to the impact on theeconomy and jobs when drawing up future rules.

　　许多共和党人仍然对人类活动是否是造成全球变暖的原因表示质疑，更别提环保局是否应该通过限制温室气体排放以缓和全球变暖。Mr Barton就是其中之一。众议院通过了一项旨在废除环保局温室气体管制权限的草案，但被共和党人控制的参议院驳回。众议院共和党领导人指责政府意图通过繁重的管制措施来提高能源价格进而促进本不具备竞争力绿色科技的发展。他们希望环保局在制定未来的管制措施时能够重视措施对经济的冲击和对就业的影响。

　　Republicans outside Congress are warming to the theme. In late May Chris Christie, the much-feted governor of New Jersey, withdrew his state from a regional pact to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions from power plants. Several prominent Republican candidates for president haverecanted past support for curbs on greenhouse gases. One of them, Newt Gingrich, a formerspeaker of the House, says the EPA should be abolished altogether and an environmentalsolutions agency more sympathetic to business set up in its stead.

　　国会之外的共和党人也在积极参与这次争论，5月下旬，备受称赞的新泽西州州长Chris Christie 宣布新泽西退出旨在降低发电厂温室气体排放的一份区域协定。几位卓越的共和党总统候选人也已宣布不再支持对温室气体排放进行管制，前众议院发言人Newt Gingrich就是其中之一。他认为，应该撤销环保局，建立一个企业友好型的 环境保护方案机构来取代。

　　EPA officials appear baffled by this barrage ofhostility. All the regulations they are promulgating,they point out, are based on laws passed byCongress, usually on a bipartisan basis. The CleanAir Act, for example, which is the basis of the EPAsproposed regulation of greenhouse gases, wassigned by Richard Nixon, and strengthened with thesupport of George Bush senior, both Republicans.The agency, they say, already conducts cost-benefitanalyses of all important regulations, in addition tosubmitting them for expert review and publiccomment. Every dollar spent on pollution controls mandated by the Clean Air Act, includingthe ozone restrictions that Mr Barton is complaining about, will bring $30 in benefits to publichealth, the EPA reckons.

　　针对如此密集的反对声，环保局官员显得很不理解。他们指出，所有颁布的规定都是以国会批准通过法律为基础的。例如，环保局起草的温室气体管制方案是以洁净空气法案为基础的，而洁净空气法案是共和党人Richard Nixon签署并得到共和党人老布什总统的进一步支持。另外，环保局所有重要的法规不仅咨询了专家意见及公共建议，同时还进行了成本效益分析。环保局估计，用于洁净空气法案规定的污染控制的每一美元都将给公共健康带来30美元的回报。

　　Under Mrs Jackson many of the most significant new rules are also being subjected to aseparate review of the impact on jobs; though since onerous environmental restrictions canbe labour-intensive, that is not always a good measure of the overall economic benefit.Moreover, the EPA is producing so many regulations at once in part because it is legally boundto. One of the rules the Republicans are complaining about, regarding mercury, arsenic andother toxic chemicals released by power plants, has been in the works for over 20 years. TheEPAs original regulations on the subject were thrown out by the courts as too lax. Anyway,so a combative official told her Republican interrogators earlier this year, complaints about thetoll on business of pollution controls are almost always wildly exaggerated.

　　在Mrs Jackson领导下，许多重要的新法规都需要单独评估其对就业市场的影响，尽管繁重的环境管制措施可能会对劳动密集型产业产生影响，但是，这样的片面的评估并不总能体现出它对整体经济利益的影响。此外，环保局同时出台如此众多的管制措施，部分原因是由于其法律上的义务。共和党人控拆的其中一项规定是针对发电厂排放汞、砷及其它有毒物质的规定，这项规定用了20年才最终出台。法院曾以管制措施过于松散为由驳回了环保局最初的草案。无论如何，一名官员在面对共和党人质询时曾说，人们在报怨环境保护措施给企业带来不利影响时总是极尽夸张之能。

　　Yet the EPA is clearly stung by the criticism. The White House recently announced that theagency had scrapped a rule requiring leaks of dairy products to be treated as oil spills, as partof a government-wide review of red tape that may be impeding economic growth. It is nowconsidering revisions to a further 31 regulations. It has also delayed the implementation of thenew regulations concerning industrial boilers, after loud complaints from the businessesaffected. And it seems in no hurry to use its authority over greenhouse gases, settlinginstead for a lengthy rule-drafting period that could forestall the imposition of any restrictionsuntil after next years elections.

　　但是批评显然让环保局备受煎熬。白宫近日宣布，在进行的一项政府范围内对可能阻碍经济发展的红头文件的复审中，环保局取消了一项要求将乳制品泄漏与石油泄漏同等处理的规定。同时环保局正考虑对另31项法规进行修订。另外，由于被影响企业的极力报怨，环保局推迟了有关工业锅炉管制的新法规的执行。看来，环保局并不急于使用他们的温室气体排放管制权利，而是满足于冗长的法规起草过程，从而阻止了任何管制条例在明年的选举之前的实施。