Rewarding polluters

Rewarding polluters

Charleston (W.Va.) Gazette: Big polluters are receiving billions of dollars in federal stimulus funds from the Obama administration. Those polluters are also being excused from requirements to follow federal and state environmental laws in their new construction projects.

The White House is exempting previous polluters who get stimulus funds from being regulated under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, according to a report by the Center for Public Integrity.

Environmental groups helped convince Congress not to add broad environmental exemptions to its stimulus legislation.

But the Obama administration stepped in and began giving stimulus projects exclusions from those environmental regulations, according to the Center for Public Integrity.

Creating jobs is critical to America’s economy. But should past polluters be rewarded — and should they be handed exemptions from future violations?