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Court upholds EPA pollution policy

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration's plan to let aging industrial plants modernize without buying expensive new pollution controls was upheld Friday by a federal appeals court.

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia sided with the Environmental Protection Agency, saying New York and a dozen other states failed to show how key areas of the administration's new regulations violate the 1970 Clean Air Act.

But the unanimous decision also came down against the EPA on two parts of the rule changes, and told the agency to review a third, giving environmentalists some reason for optimism within the 73-page decision.

The Bush administration argued that its decision to let older power and other industrial plants modernize without making them install expensive new pollution controls will remove barriers to innovation and increase productivity without worsening air quality.

Environmental critics say the changes will increase sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides that contribute to acid rain and public health woes such as pulmonary and cardiovascular disease, leading to thousands of premature deaths a year.

The judges' ruling said it is not clear if the changes in "new source review" regulations - rules governing industrial sources of pollution - will lead to greater pollution, or if leaving the old rules in place would deter companies from modernizing.

The new source review rules apply to some 17,000 facilities around the country, including power plants, refineries, steel mills and pharmaceutical factories.

Other states in the lawsuit were California, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont and Wisconsin.

EPA Assistant Administrator Jeff Holmstead said the agency "is pleased that the court upheld the key provisions of the new source review program."

"We believe that these provisions will offer facilities greater flexibility to improve and modernize their operations in ways that will reduce energy use and air pollution," Holmstead said.

[Last modified June 25, 2005, 00:35:14]