Photo credit: Express-Times Photo | Tom Shortell

The New York Times reports that the legal wrangling over new U.S. EPA rules meant to curb interstate air
pollution from power plants “turned into a full-blown melee late last
week, with at least two dozen power companies, cities, states and
industry groups joining the fray before Friday’s deadline for court
challenges.”

“There are now more than 30 lawsuits asking the U.S. Court of Appeals for
the District of Columbia Circuit to block the Cross-State Air Pollution
Rule, which sets strict new limits on the nitrogen oxides (NOx) and
sulfur dioxide (SO2) that cause soot and smog. EPA started crafting the
program after the court found flaws with the George W. Bush-era Clean
Air Interstate Rule, which was also meant to ensure that one state’s
pollution does not make it harder for another state to meet federal air
quality standards.”

Also among those filing lawsuits last week were Florida Electric Power
Coordinating Group Inc.; the Kansas City Board of Public Utilities;
Southwestern Public Service Co.; Northern States Power Co.; Wisconsin
Paper Council Inc.; the city of Ames, Iowa; the Municipal Electric
Authority of Georgia; the South Mississippi Electric Power Association;
the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association; Consolidated Edison
Co. of New York; Wisconsin Electric Power Co.; the Louisiana Chemical
Association; Peabody Energy Corp.; the state of Georgia; the city of
Springfield, Ill.; AEP Texas North Co.; the United Mine Workers of
America; Entergy Corp.; the Lafayette Utilities System; the Midwest
Ozone Group; Murray Energy Corp.; and the Utility Air Regulatory Group.

EPA, which predicts huge public health gains from cleaning up soot and
smog, says that it has been attuned to the needs of power
companies while writing the rules.

The agency’s approach, not surprisingly, has won the backing of  public health and environmental groups.But it also is endorsed by some energy companies whose power plants emit lower amounts of pollution

Among them is New
Jersey-based PSEG, natural gas-driven Calpine Corp. and Exelon Corp.,
the operator of the nation’s largest fleet of nuclear plants. All three are urging the court to let the rules proceed.

New Jersey is a noted victim of cross-state air pollution 

The Garden State has been unable to meet national air quality standards for years and a big part of its problem is due to prevailing winds carrying pollution from facilities like the Portland Generating Station, a coal-fired power plant in neighboring Pennsylvania.

In May of 2010, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection petitioned the EPA to require the plant to install a scrubber that
would catch 95 percent of sulfur dioxide before it leaves
the plant’s smokestacks.

“New Jersey has some of the worst air quality in the
nation already and plants like this make the problem
worse,” NJDEP Commissioner Bob Martin said at the time. “Much of New Jersey’s poor air quality
is attributable to upwind, out-of-state pollution sources
like the Portland plant.”

Martin claimed that the 52-year-old coal-fired power plant
is among the least efficient in the country, emitting more
sulfur dioxide than seven of New Jersey’s coal-fired
plants combined.

Environmental groups have kept the pressure on the Portland plant

During the morning hours o f August 11, 2001, Greenpeace flew the
hot-air aircraft, pictured at the top of this post, around the facility in Upper Mount Bethel Township to protest the plant’s continued emissions.

Portland officials say they will be forced to close or to convert to burning natural gas if the EPA rules are adopted.

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