It's now official: Factory farms that generate huge amounts of harmful pollution are being let off the hook from enforcement of clean air laws provided they simply let EPA monitor them and collect data. EPA basically let industry write its own rules in a back-room deal... no surprise that the rules would be toothless. The official story goes like this (per the AP): Seeking data for future regulation, the government on Friday told factory-style farms that generate huge amounts of animal waste they can escape potentially large fines if their air pollution is monitored.

EPA is rigging the game for a Bush administration industry ally, this time DuPont. The Environmental Working Group has analyzed EPA's draft risk assessment on perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), a key ingredient of Teflon, and found that EPA has rigged the risk assessment in order to make its own brand of regulatory Teflon. The essence of the charge is that EPA "ignored its own science panel's guidance and internal industry research":

Corporate special interests have a long history of trying to distort science in order to distance themselves from the harms they cause and avoid being held accountable. The usual story is that corporations leverage their money through think tanks like the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis, which then produce studies that -- surprise! -- add a veneer of scientific credibility to industry talking points. The San Francisco Chronicle is reporting evidence of a more direct link between industry money and distorted science: