Subject: NYT - Clean air lawsuits
From: [email-masked]
To: [email-masked], [email-masked], [email-masked], [email-masked]
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Date: Mon, 20 Aug 2001 09:30:41 -0700 (PDT)

FYI - while not reporting on new developments, this story provides a good overview and update on the clean air lawsuits.  EPA will likely include provisions on NSR enforcement when its report is released in September.

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CLEAN AIR: NSR overhaul throws Northeast lawsuits into doubt 
The Bush administration's plans to overhaul New Source Review requirements for older power plants may make it more difficult for Northeastern states pursuing lawsuits against Midwestern and Southern ones over transboundary air pollution to win their cases. 
The suits allege that downwind emissions from older plants in the Midwest -- which are exempt from Clean Air Act standards -- are making it impossible for Northeastern states to meet pollution limits within their own boundaries. Those suits largely hinge on NSR policy, which requires older plants that expand or upgrade their facilities to comply with the same standards that new plants must meet. Since the U.S. EPA is considering revising the New Source Review enforcement program, the Bush administration is considering withdrawing federal participation in the lawsuits. 
If the federal government does pull out of the transboundary pollution suits, Northeastern states will have a much more difficult time winning their cases, state officials say. "We will pursue these cases no matter what happens in Washington," said New York Attorney General Eliot L. Spitzer (D). "But losing out on the participation and resources of EPA and the Justice Department would be a substantial loss and would make our job much harder, no question." 
The lawsuits were brought by New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire and Vermont against 17 plants in Virginia, West Virginia, Indiana and Ohio (Richard Perez-Pena, New York Times <http://www.nytimes.com/2001/08/20/nyregion/20POLL.html>, Aug. 20). -- AGR