Which Way, L.A.?

President Bush's EPA and Air Pollution

The Environmental Protection Agency published a new list of the nation-s smoggiest counties today, with LA, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino on top once again. There are new EPA standards for identifying unhealthful air and new timetables for cleaning it up, standards that make even Yosemite National Park unhealthful during parts of the year. Does that mean LA-s air will be cleaned up sooner-or later? The Bush administration says it-s accelerating the pace of air cleanup, but critics contend it just looks that way. Warren Olney leads a debate among an official of the EPA's Air Division, and attorneys for the National Resources Defense Council and South Coast Air Quality Management District. Reporter-s Notebook: Nothing is Certain but Death, if You-re Rich America-s tax system -is being turned on its head,- so the very rich end up being subsidized by everyone else. That's the subject of Perfectly Legal, an authoritative new book by David Cay Johnston of the New York Times. Winner of a 2001 Pulitzer Prize for his reports on tax loopholes, Johnston discusses America's -covert campaign to rig our tax system to benefit the super rich-and cheat everybody else." (This segment was originally broadcast earlier today on To the Point.)