As the new home of NHPIRG's environmental work, Environment New Hampshire may be contacted regarding this release.
CONCORD
—A federal appeals court today stuck down a highly controversial air
pollution rule that was a centerpiece of the Bush administration’s
environmental agenda. The 2003 rule gutted key provisions of the Clean
Air Act, known as New Source Review, that require power plants and
other industrial sources of air pollution to install modern pollution
controls when they make physical or operational changes that increase
emissions.
“Today’s
ruling is a tremendous victory for public health and the environment,”
said Erika Staaf of the New Hampshire Public Interest Research Group.
“The court slammed the door on the Bush administration’s attempt to
create a gaping loophole in the Clean Air Act for some of the nation’s
worst polluters.”
The
2003 rule would have allowed more than 20,000 power plants, refineries,
and other industrial facilities to replace existing equipment with
“functionally equivalent” equipment without undergoing the clean air
reviews required by the NSR program if the cost of the replacement did
not exceed 20% of that of the entire unit. The exemption would have
applied even if a facility’s air pollution increased by thousands or
tens of thousands of tons as a result of the replacement.
The
NSR program is key to ensuring that aging U.S. power plants—the
nation’s largest industrial source of air pollution—meet modern
pollution standards. Nearly three-quarters of all power plant boilers
are over 30 years old and most continue to operate without modern
pollution control technology. These older plants release 99% of the
sulfur dioxide (SO2), 98% of nitrogen oxides (NOx), and 91% of carbon
dioxide (CO2) from power plants. SO2 and NOx form soot and smog
pollution, and CO2 is the leading global warming pollutant.
In
December 2003, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia
blocked implementation of the rule, pending its review of the case.
Today the court struck down the rule, saying it violates the Clean Air
Act.
U.S.
PIRG, NHPIRG’s federal arm, the State of New Hampshire, as well as a
coalition of states and environmental and public health groups brought
case against the EPA.
