VIEW FROM THE HILL:

The Clean Air Act Is In Jeopardy

If the Bush Administration gets its wish, it will be able to ease Clean Air Act regulations so that older, coal-fired power plants will no longer be required to install anti-pollution technology when they renovate. For a number of years, federal and state officials have used a provision in the Clean Air Act that requires older industrial facilities to install new pollution controls when they make major upgrades.

However, on Christmas Eve, a federal appeals court blocked the Bush Administration’s plan regarding the installation of anti-pollution technology when power plants undertake major renovations. Maryland joined 11 other states in filing a lawsuit to prevent this reinterpretation of the Clean Air Act from taking effect. The court injunction will last until the judges issue a final ruling, which could take a year or more.

In November, the Bush Administration also announced that it will drop investigations into 50 power plants for past violations of the Clean Air Act. Unfortunately, the recent appeals court ruling does not affect the Bush Administration’s plan to halt these investigations.

If the court ultimately decides to allow the Bush Administration to precede with its plans not to enforce important anti-pollution provisions in the Clean Air Act, it would have a particularly harmful effect on the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions. That’s because many of these older plants are located in the Midwest and their emissions are carried east by the jet stream, contributing to smog and pollution along the Eastern Seaboard.

Environmentalists contend that if we fail to require the installation of anti-pollution technology when older plants are upgraded, we will see an increase in emissions by more than 30,000 tons a year, a 56% increase over current levels. According to the American Lung Association and the Harvard School of Public Health, this increase in emissions will result in:

• at least 20,000 additional premature deaths per year
• at least 400,000 additional asthma attacks per year
• at least 12,000 new cases of chronic bronchitis per year

In another troubling development, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) also has announced a reinterpretation of how the Clean Air Act was enforced under the Clinton Administration, claiming it lacks the authority to regulate carbon dioxide emissions. I strongly disagree with the EPA’s decision because the Clean Air Act specifically gives it jurisdiction to regulate environmental conditions that endanger health, including carbon dioxide. The Bush Administration disputes overwhelming scientific evidence that "greenhouse gases"--such as carbon dioxide--are harmful as they drive Global Warming.

In an effort to force the EPA to reconsider its decision, Baltimore City has joined with a dozen states and 19 environmental groups in a lawsuit that would require the EPA to enforce this aspect of the Clean Air Act and require it to tighten standards for carbon dioxide emissions from cars, trucks, power plans and other industries.

Many in Congress are working to prevent a weakening the Clean Air Act. While the Court of Appeals has issued a temporary injunction concerning the Bush Administration’s plans not to install more effective anti-pollution technology, I have co-sponsored legislation that would legislatively reverse the EPA’s reinterpretation of clean air standards.

The Court of Appeals may have provided a reprieve, but everyone who is interested in the environment needs to join together in fighting decisions that will clearly result in dirtier, more polluted air.