While electric utility attorneys are disappointed in the decision last week by a federal appeals court supporting the authority of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to set stringent new emission control standards for particulate matter and ozone, they pointed out it will be several years, and possibly more, before rules can be promulgated and enforced.

The 3-0 decision Tuesday by a three-judge panel of the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia was in line with an earlier decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, which had overturned and remanded a lower court ruling that would have restricted EPA authority. The stringent standards EPA proposed to set for small particulate matter and ozone under the Clean Air Act in 1997 have been opposed by a number of industrial companies and utilities in the courts ever since. Coal-fired power plants, in particular, would be affected by the new rules.

Environmentalists hailed Tuesday’s appeals court decision for upholding what have been described as “the toughest air pollution standards ever.” They were developed under the Clinton administration, but now must be implemented by a Republican administration, which already has questioned the expansion of the clean air rules.

“EPA has a fair amount of work to do before it can implement standards,” according to attorneys for the business interests. On the ozone standard, EPA must initiate a rulemaking process, which also would consider possible beneficial effects of ozone on skin cancer, which could take a year and a half.

Regarding stricter standards for particulate matter, the agency must collect three years worth of ambient monitoring data to determine which are the problem areas in the country. The EPA would then direct the states to implement standards. This would involve deciding which industries to target for emission reductions. “States will have to undertake a complex process to determine which sources should be controlled. There will be different strategies in different areas.”

The EPA’s rules were based on findings for both pollutants of “a range of adverse health effects including coughing, shortness of breath, aggravation of existing respiratory conditions like asthma and chronic bronchitis, increased susceptibility to respiratory infections and heightened risk of premature death.” In addition, ozone has been blamed for heart disease, emphysema and lung tissue damage, and has been estimated to be responsible for $500 million in reduced crop production in the United States each year.

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