WASHINGTON - President Obama on Friday scrapped his administration's plans to tighten smog rules, bowing to the demands of congressional Republicans and some business leaders.
They argued that the proposal to cut emissions of smog-causing chemicals would cost billions of dollars and hundreds of thousands of jobs.
Obama overruled the Environmental Protection Agency - and the unanimous opinion of its independent panel of scientific advisers - and directed Administrator Lisa P. Jackson to withdraw the proposed regulation, which would have reduced concentrations of ground-level ozone, smog's main ingredient.
The decision rests in part on cutting regulatory burdens and uncertainty for businesses at a time of rampant wariness about an unsteady economy.
The White House announcement came shortly after a government report Friday on private-sector employment showed that the nation's businesses essentially added no new jobs in August - and that the jobless rate remained stuck at a historically high 9.1 percent.
The president is planning a major address next week on new measures to stimulate employment, while Republicans in Congress and on the presidential campaign trail have harshly criticized the administration's environmental and health regulations, which they contend were forcing layoffs and the export of jobs.
The withdrawal of the proposed regulation marks the latest in a string of retreats by Obama in the face of Republican opposition.
In December, he shelved, at least until the end of 2012, his insistence that Bush-era tax cuts should no longer apply to the wealthy. Earlier this year, he avoided a government shutdown by agreeing to Republican demands for budget cuts. And this summer, he acceded to more than a $1 trillion in spending reductions, with more to come, as the price for an agreement to raise the nation's debt ceiling to avoid a default.
A spokesman for House Speaker John A. Boehner (R., Ohio) had muted praise for the White House, saying that withdrawal of the smog regulation was a good first step toward removing obstacles that are blocking business growth.
"But it is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to stopping Washington Democrats' agenda of tax hikes, more government 'stimulus' spending, and increased regulations, which are all making it harder to create more American jobs," said the spokesman, Michael Steel.
Obama had initially set out to strengthen a weaker standard set by former President George W. Bush. Jackson, the EPA administrator, had said in July that the Bush standard would not survive a legal challenge because it did not follow the recommendations of the agency's scientific advisers.
In March, the EPA's independent panel said in a letter to Jackson that it was unanimous in its recommendation to make the smog standard stronger and that the evidence was "sufficiently certain" that a range proposed in January 2010 under Obama would benefit public health.
The White House, which has pledged to base decisions on science, said Friday that the science behind its initial decision needed to be updated and that a new standard would be issued in 2013.
Major industry groups had lobbied hard for the White House to abandon the smog regulation, and they applauded Friday's decision.
"The president's decision is good news for the economy and Americans looking for work," said Jack Gerard, president and chief executive of the American Petroleum Institute. "EPA's proposal would have prevented the very job creation that President Obama has identified as his top priority."
The proposed smog standard was estimated to cost from $19 billion to $90 billion, depending on how strict it would be.
The Clean Air Act does not allow the EPA to consider how much it will cost to comply when picking a new standard.
The New York Times News Service contributed information to this article.
