The D.C. appellate court has issued a final ruling upholding theEnvironmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) 1998 clean-air rulerequiring several states east of the Mississippi River to enforcestrict nitrogen-oxide (NOx) emission standards.

“This decision is a major environmental victory for everyoneliving throughout the eastern United States,” said EPAAdministrator Carol M. Brown. At the same time, it was a big lossfor coal-fired plants in the Midwest.

Although the clean-air rule leaves it strictly up to the statesto choose which sources to tightly regulate, the EPA has suggestedthey zero in on vintage coal-fired generation plants. The agencycontends these facilities have been the biggest emitters of NOxemissions, causing pollution problems in East Coast and Northeaststates.

In late June, the full U.S. Court of Appeals for the District ofColumbia Circuit denied a petition by a host of electric utilitiesand Southeastern and Midwestern states to review a March decisionby a three-judge panel of the appellate court upholding the EPA NOxrule. The parties initiated their challenge to the EPA rule in May1999.

The court decision gives the agency the go-ahead to move forwardwith enforcement of its 1998 NOx-reduction rule in 19 of the 22states that are believed to be significant contributors of NOxemissions. It calls for each of the 19 states and the District ofColumbia to submit NOx-reduction plans to EPA by the end ofOctober, said EPA spokesman David Ryan.

Excluded from the appeals court decision were Georgia, Missouriand Wisconsin. The agency is planning to issue a new rulemaking forGeorgia and Missouri, but Wisconsin is “out completely,” Ryannoted.

Susan Parker

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