Bush Seeks To Roll-Back Clean Air Rules By Chris Baltimore 11-24-2 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Bush administration has proposed relaxing clean air rules to help old coal-fired power plants avoid costly pollution controls, a plan that nine states vowed to fight in federal court on health grounds. The proposal, made Friday, was also roundly condemned by Democrats and environmental groups on health grounds. The Environmental Protection Agency defended its new rules as simply giving power plants and oil refineries more flexibility to cut emissions. Existing rules require U.S. utilities and refineries to invest in state-of-the-art pollution controls if a plant undergoes a major expansion or modification. The issue is pivotal for aging coal-fired utilities in the Midwest that could face hundreds of millions of dollars in new investments. Under the proposed rules, the EPA would change the definition of "routine maintenance" to give utilities more leeway to modify a plant without triggering extra pollution-reduction requirements. Eliot Spitzer, the New York attorney general, announced he would soon file a federal lawsuit challenging the rules together with eight other Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic states, including Connecticut, Massachusetts and New Jersey. Spitzer said the rules were written to favor the financial interests of the energy industry instead of public health. Emissions from the plants are linked to acid rain, smog and soot, and can aggravate medical conditions such as asthma, chronic bronchitis and pneumonia. CALL FOR EPA CHIEF TO RESIGN Sen. Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut, a Democrat and possible presidential contender, called for EPA Administrator Christine Todd Whitman to resign. "Gov. Whitman has a good record and good intentions, but on her watch this administration has undertaken the biggest rollback in Clean Air Act history and scaled back countless other environmental protections." Lieberman said. The EPA released a plan for "new source review" rules, one of the agency's most complex programs to curb air emissions. Whitman said the actions would encourage utilities to cut emissions after years of postponements because of the current program's requirements. The EPA said it wants to finalize the rules by late 2003. The EPA also would give utilities a plant-specific annual allowance for making repairs and replacements. Modifications made that fit below the allotted cost ceiling will not trigger more stringent regulations. The EPA did not disclose actual figures for such allotments. The proposed rules also would allow utilities to replace aging equipment with their "functional equivalent new equipment" without triggering regulations, the EPA said. CRITICS ON BOTH SIDES The proposed rules will not take effect until the EPA has collected and analyzed feedback from utilities, green groups, and others. The EPA was criticized by environmental groups and Democratic lawmakers on one side, and utility officials on the other. Green groups complained that the agency action rolls back federal Clean Air Act protections, while the industry contends they do not go far enough. "It is difficult to imagine a more aggressive assault on our clean air protections," said Rebecca Stanfield at the Public Interest Research Group. Spitzer said the change would worsen air quality in the Northeast and mid-Atlantic states, a region already struggling with dirty air blown from Midwestern states. Spitzer said New York's lawsuit would be filed in the federal appeals court in Washington. The EPA said the new rules will not spur a rise in pollution from power plants. "Emissions from the power sector will continue to come down ... regardless of what happens in the future" of the new source review program, said EPA Assistant Administrator Jeffrey Holmstead. Holmstead said power plant emissions are limited by the administration's Clear Skies proposal, which requires utilities to cut three harmful emissions by 70 percent by 2018 using a cap-and-trade system. Critics also warned that the new proposal could endanger ongoing lawsuits brought by the EPA against nine U.S. utilities to enforce the new source review rules. Copyright � 2002 Reuters Limited.
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