In a move made on the Friday before Labor Day, President Obama asked the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to withdraw a plan to limit smog pollution that was projected to prevent as many as 12,000 premature deaths from heart and lung complications. Obama said he made the decision in part to reduce regulatory burdens in a time of economic uncertainty. The decision was seen as a major victory for polluters and Republicans and another setback for environmentalists. The Natural Resources Defense Council described the decision as “the most outrageous environmental offense of the Obama administration.”