Clean air rule changes may undermine cases against polluters

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Wednesday, July 17, 2002

Clean air rule changes may undermine cases against polluters

By JOHN HEILPRIN

Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Bush administration's plan to ease clean air rules is

undermining enforcement cases against older coal-fired power plants, some

senators and state officials contended Tuesday. Federal officials denied the

charge.

" There is a growing feeling, based on fact, that the administration has sent

a very clear signal that polluters can do so with impunity, " Senate

Judiciary Chairman Leahy, D-Vt., said at a joint hearing of his

committee and the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.

New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, a Democrat, testified that the

Environmental Protection Agency's recent proposal to relax enforcement rules

under a Clean Air Act program has affected his ability to negotiate

settlements in cases against two major plants in his state.

" These policies, regulations, have had a devastating impact on our ability

to ensure the cleanliness of our air, " Spitzer said.

Officials from the Justice Department and the EPA told senators they did not

believe the proposal had undercut prosecution of cases against major power

plants.

" We are committed to pursuing these cases, " said Holmstead, the EPA'

s assistant administrator in charge of the Office of Air and Radiation.

Outside the hearing, he was asked about how the proposal might affect

current cases. Holmstead told reporters he would " be surprised if a judge

takes that into account. "

In fact, the judge presiding over Spitzer's case in January against Niagara

Mohawk and NRG Energy Inc. for alleged violations at two plants in Buffalo,

N.Y., has asked for information on how the administration's proposal might

affect the issues in the case.

The Justice Department and the EPA have threatened heavy fines on utilities

unless they spend tens of billions of dollars to better control emissions of

acid rain-causing sulfur dioxide, smog-causing nitrogen oxides and mercury,

a toxic chemical that contaminates waterways.

Settlements involving tens of millions of dollars have been reached in the

past year with utilities in New Jersey and Florida.

Assistant Attorney General L. Sansonetti, who oversees the Justice

Department's Environment and Natural Resources Division, described the

regulatory proposals as " irrelevant " with regard to his duty to prosecute.

" I'm going forward. I have no choice, " he said.

Sansonetti said he believed the proposals have yet to influence the way

companies approach negotiations.

Vermont Attorney General H. Sorrell, a Democrat, said the EPA's

recommendations to President Bush " will seriously undercut " Vermont's

efforts to enforce existing pollution rules against large utilities.

But Alabama Attorney General Bill Pryor, a Republican whose state exports

electricity, said he supports Bush's efforts to change a broad program that

critics contend treads on states' prerogative in air pollution cases.

Sen. Bob of New Hampshire, the senior Republican on the Environment

and Public Works Committee, said he did not " fault President Bush at all for

trying to make some sense of this jumbled heap of nonsense. "

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Copyright 2002 Associated Press.