No wonder the New York Times is losing money.
In its editorial “California Rules” advocating for EPA to approve California’s Clean Air Act waiver for tighter vehicle emissions standards, the Times says:
…The Environmental Protection Agency is almost certain to grant the waiver California needs to put the rules into effect. It should also begin pushing the oil refiners to lower the sulfur content in gasoline, greatly improving California’s chances of achieving smog reductions. The oil companies hate this idea because it will add to their refining costs. It is hard to feel sympathy for them at a time of record profits. Lisa Jackson, the E.P.A. administrator, has proposed sulfur reductions for gasoline, but the White House has yet to give her the green light. It should. [Emphasis added]
Of course, it is consumers — not oil companies — that will bear the costs of more costly refining as the added expense is passed on.
A potential bright side is that, with less money in their pockets, consumers may buy even fewer copies of the New York Times.