WASHINGTON - December 23 - Timetables announced today by the Environmental Protection Agency to improve safeguards against carbon pollution from power plants and oil refineries are a significant step toward improving public health, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council.

The agency's timetables are set forth in settlement agreements that resolve lawsuits brought against EPA by NRDC and a coalition of states and other environmental organizations. 

The following is a statement by David Doniger, Policy Director, NRDC Climate Center: 

"By setting timetables for issuing standards to cut dangerous carbon pollution from power plants and oil refineries, EPA is doing precisely what is needed to protect our health and welfare and provide businesses certainty at a time when some would prefer to roll back the clock. The EPA's forthcoming standards will be based on available and affordable measures to clean up the two industries responsible for the most pollution that drives climate change. Clear pollution control standards also will help these industries plan future investments, fuel the economic recovery, and create jobs."