That “spot is affordable, practical regulations that provide the vital and long overdue health benefits that Americans demand and deserve,’’ said McCarthy, a Boston native who served in the Paul Cellucci and Mitt Romney administrations in Massachusetts.
The changes would require pollution controls at the 5,500 largest and most-polluting boilers nationwide, such as those at refineries and chemical plants.
An additional 195,000 smaller boilers can meet the rule through routine tune-ups.
The bulk of boilers nationwide - about 1.3 million - would not be covered by the rule, since they are too small and emit too little pollution to warrant controls.
The tweaks are the latest for a rule that has undergone numerous revisions and has been among the most criticized by industry and lawmakers for its cost and its scope.
Senator Lamar Alexander, Republican of Tennessee, had said the boiler rule has “come from another planet,’’ even as he has defended the EPA in the face of other Republican rollbacks.
Alexander, in a statement yesterday, said he was pleased efforts on Capitol Hill “spurred’’ the agency to make changes.
But he said he would review the regulations to make sure the pollution reductions are technically feasible and there was enough time for businesses to comply.
The agency had found ways to cut the cost of compliance in half, by about $1.8 billion, when it announced the final rule in March, promising revisions.
Yesterday, some industry groups still were not satisfied.
Jay Timmons, president and chief executive of the National Association of Manufacturers, said in a statement that the boiler rules would still do significant harm to job growth.
“We will continue to urge the EPA to extend the compliance time frame and consider a more reasonable approach to setting the emission standards to ensure additional jobs are not put at risk,’’ he said.
The American Chemistry Council, which represents chemical companies, pressed for legislation to delay the rules while acknowledging improvements had been made.
The Republican-controlled House passed a bill in October seeking to delay the boiler regulation and lower the threshold that boiler operators would have to meet from “maximum achievable’’ pollution control to the “least burdensome.’’
A bipartisan bill pending in the Senate would give the EPA additional time to rewrite the rule and for industry to comply.
Senator Susan Collins, Republican of Maine and the sponsor of the Senate measure, said yesterday that the changes were a step in the right direction. But she said she needed to review the details before determining if they were sufficient.
Some environmentalists were guarded in their response.
“We’re encouraged that long overdue protections that could save lives, improve the health of thousands, and create thousands of jobs are finally on the books,’’ Michael Brune, Sierra Club executive director, said in a statement.
