Top federal regulators have recommended informally that the
White House relax one of the nation's most contentious air
pollution regulations, a provision that requires power plants to
upgrade pollution control equipment when they upgrade their
operations.

Such a move has long been pushed by energy and industry groups --
many of whom have been big supporters of President Bush -- who
say that current rules impose billions of dollars in extra costs
that unfairly block utilities from modernizing to make plants
more energy efficient.

Environmental groups have been equally vehement in their support
of the current regulations, saying that any relaxation would
amount to the biggest rollback of the Clean Air Act since its
passage 30 years ago. In addition, the attorneys general from
some states in the Northeast, which often bear the brunt of
pollution from industrial plants in the Midwest, plan to gather
here on Tuesday to protest any changes in the regulations.

While no final recommendations have been formally sent to the
White House, officials said that the tentative results of
discussions between the Energy Department and the Environmental
Protection Agency had been given to the Council on Environmental
Quality at the White House. "We have submitted a suggested set
of reforms," one official said. "We're pretty far along."

http://www.nytimes.com/2002/01/08/politics/08AIR.html

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
For SC email list T-and-C, send: GET TERMS-AND-CONDITIONS.CURRENT
to [log in to unmask]