[Dialogue] An emphatic 'no'

[Harry Wainwright]

Article Created: 7/13/2006 04:44 AM

 

 

An emphatic 'no'

 


Connecticut Post Online - http://www.connpost.com/opinion/ci_4045068 

 

A federal appeals court has rightfully rejected a request from the
Environmental Protection Agency to resurrect a loophole in the Clean Air Act
that would bring more polluted air to Connecticut and other Northeastern
states.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit unanimously
rejected the EPA and Bush administration's request for reconsideration of
the court's March decision which closed a loophole EPA had adopted for the
agency's new source review program. A three-judge panel of the court ruled
then that the regulation violated the Clean Air Act by allowing thousands of
older power plants and other industrial facilities to avoid installing
state-of-the-art pollution emissions control equipment when the plant
facilities are upgraded.

The court's ruling is significant because if the loophole had been allowed
to stand it could have increased air pollution by thousands of tons of
emissions annually. For more than a decade, Connecticut and other
Northeastern states have fought to force the EPA to strenuously enforce
Clean Air Act provisions as an aid reducing air pollution and bettering the
health of citizens, especially those susceptible to chronic respiratory
diseases such as asthma.

The Northeast bears the brunt of pollution emitted by power plants in the
Southeast and Midwest that is carried to this region by prevailing winds. It
only exacerbates pollution generated by the region's motor vehicle traffic.

The appeals court was emphatic in its denial of the reconsideration motion.
Not a single judge on the appeals court asked for a vote on the EPA appeal.

There's a message for the Bush administration: This decision must not be
appealed further to the U.S. Supreme Court.

It's time the EPA returned to its mission of cleaning our skies and
protecting Americans from pollution rather than creating loopholes in laws
that only further endanger our health.

 

 

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