Associated Press Newswires Copyright 2002. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. Monday, June 17, 2002 Report: North American air quality at risk from power plant construction OTTAWA (AP) - North America's air quality could be threatened by emissions from hundreds of new power plants over the next five years if governments do not revise their regulatory powers, an international commission warned Monday. The North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation said in a report that about 2,000 plant are proposed, most of them in the United States. It said the plants would boost the continent's electricity capacity by 50 percent but also pose major environmental challenges. Even if fewer plants are built, there will still be a major expansion of capacity, with the risk that much of it will favor cheap - but high-polluting - coal, the report suggests. The commission - created by Canada, Mexico and the United States to study environmental issues related to the North American Free Trade Agreement - called for strict national emissions standards and closer cooperation among countries in assessing air quality risks. North American power plants currently are regulated by national as well as state and provincial laws, the report said. But laws are not uniform either on a state-by-state basis or from one nation to another. For example, Canada has no equivalent to the U.S. Clean Air Act setting air quality standards. Deregulation already has brought a dramatic decline in the amount of money electricity generators spend on energy conservation, the report said. It estimated electric utilities cut their spending from $2.4 billion in 1995 to $1.4 billion in 1999. "It is clear that these reductions are due to uncertainties and risks created by industry restructuring and in some cases by just the expectation of energy restructuring in the future," commission executive director Janine Ferretti said. NAFTA governments project that the demand for electricity this decade will increase by 66 percent in Mexico, 21 percent in the United States and 14 percent in Canada. *** NOTICE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - For SC email list T-and-C, send: GET TERMS-AND-CONDITIONS.CURRENT to [log in to unmask]