In a victory for the business community, President Barack Obama overruled the Environmental Protection Agency‘s efforts to implement stricter smog standards. 

Obama said in a statement that new standards are set to be considered in two years, and it doesn’t make sense to go through a process now that will be repeated in 2013.

“Ultimately, I did not support asking state and local governments to begin implementing a new standard that will soon be reconsidered,” Obama said. 

In a July interview with DC808, Sen. Daniel Inouye said he had concerns about the proposed regulations, and that they could “cause havoc” for Hawaii.

One area of concern for Hawaii could have been how stricter regulations would have affected operations at Honolulu’s H-Power waste-to-energy plant, where a new boiler is under construction. Inouye did not mention the plant. 

Though Inouye clearly had concerns about new regulations, he said that he’s not an expert, and understands that some members of the business community would do away with environmental regulations altogether if they could.

“The answer that some of the business people give is, ‘Dump the EPA, put it out of business,’” Inouye said.