CONTACT:

BILL HOLBROOK 202-224-5762

MATTHEW DEMPSEY 202-224-9797 matthew_dempsey@epw.senate.gov

WASHINGTON, DC – Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), Chairman of the Environment & Public Works Committee, commended the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) on its “Interim Report of the Committee on Changes in New Source Review (NSR) Programs for Stationary Sources of Air Pollutant.” NAS was directed to do the study by Inhofe and Senator Jim Jeffords (I-VT) with an interim report due this month and a final report to be released at the end of 2005.

“I commend NAS for its thorough and credible approach to studying the NSR rule and am pleased they have taken this bipartisan charge seriously,” Senator Inhofe said. “It is clear from the Interim Report that NAS has undertaken a detailed, nonpartisan, methodological approach in collecting information and in developing a plan to report its final conclusions and recommendations to Congress by the end of the year. For too long this issue has been politicized and driven by extreme rhetoric. The process undertaken by NAS and outlined in the Interim Report will help put the rhetoric aside and enable Congress to have a clearer picture of this important issue when the final report is released.”