EPA firm on Nov. 15 deadline for Clean Air commute rules. (Clean Air Act; employee commute options plans)

No amount of wishful thinking is going to change a Nov. 15 deadline for southeastern Wisconsin employers to comply with the federal air quality rules concerning how employees get to and from work.

However, recent information from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) had some employers wondering if they could delay following rules set by the Clean Air Act.

In an Oct. 27 letter to U.S. Rep. Peter Barca of Kenosha, Mary Nichols, an EPA assistant administrator, indicated that the agency doesn't plan to require Milwaukee, Racine and Kenosha counties to cut ozone pollution levels before the ozone reduction deadline set for Chicago in the year 2007. …