Historically, the agency has used as its metric the actual annual increase in emissions—for example, looking at whether smog-forming nitrogen oxide pollution will increase by more than 40 tons per year. The National Marine Fisheries Service, the federal agency responsible for protecting marine species under the ESA, has never employed the “blanket rule” and has always tailored protections to species’ needs. Furthermore, the “blanket rule” is not provided for by the text of the ESA. The Natural Resources Defense Council works to safeguard the earth - its people, its plants and animals, and the natural systems on which all life depends.When you sign up you'll become a member of NRDC's Activist Network. Sluggish economy can be jump-started by revamping EPA By Jay N. Lehr Special to Tribune News Service THE U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has grown into a … Until then, the “sue and settle” approach will continue clogging up the courts, consuming vast federal resources in endless lawsuits, and taking those resources away from the real work of conservation.Nevertheless, the proposed reforms are a step in the right direction. Now the agency is taking aim at the way it does economics. The EPA took an initial step this week toward changing how it calculates the economic benefits and costs of regulatory decisions, a revision long sought by conservative allies of Trump. Before diving into politics, he has been a businessman and a television person. We want the cleanest air, we want crystal clean water, and that's what we're doing and what we're working on so hard," he told a crowd that included several cabinet members in the East Room of the White House.Even former Congressional Budget Office director Douglas Holtz-Eakin, whose think tank helped calculate the figure, has acknowledged that it's impossible to say exactly how much the plan would cost.Environmental advocates say the Trump administration’s track record shows his disregard for the work of the EPA, an agency he said during his campaign he would reduce to “little bits.” | Alex Brandon/AP PhotoThat’s a setback from a long-term decline under the previous four presidents, which has led to emissions of sulfur dioxide – a component of acid rain – to fall 88 percent below 1990 levels, according to EPA data. An environmental policy expert with The Heartland Institute sees both good and bad in Donald Trump's proposed energy plans. More than any other detail, perhaps, it illustrates the cynical manner in which the rule’s architects hope to prop up our deservedly floundering coal sector through emissions-efficiency legerdemain.