An emphatic 'no'

Connecticut Post
July 13, 2006

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.