Court blocks Bush's "clean air" plan

Court blocks Clean Air Act changes
Bush administration sought to ease rules for industrial
facilitiesBREAKING NEWS
The Associated Press
Updated: 1:48 p.m. ET Dec. 24, 2003WASHINGTON - A federal appeals
court on Wednesday blocked new Bush administration changes to the
Clean Air Act from going into effect on Thursday, in a challenge from
state attorneys general and cities that argued they would harm the
environment and public health.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3802190/


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The Environmental Protection Agency rule would have made it easier for
utilities, refineries and other industrial facilities to make repairs
in the name of "routine maintenance" without installing additional
pollution controls.

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the
District of Columbia issued an order that blocks the rules from going
into effect until the legal challenge from the states and cities is
heard, a process likely to last months.

The court's decision blocks at least temporarily one of the Bush
administration's major environmental decisions. The court's justices
said the challengers "demonstrated the irreparable harm and likelihood
of success" of their case, which are required to stop the rule from
taking effect.

EPA proposed the rule in December, the then-acting administrator
signed it in August and it was made final in October. It was due to
have gone into effect this week.

Bringing suit were attorneys general for 12 states — Connecticut,
Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New Jersey,
New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont and Wisconsin — and
legal officers for New York City, Washington, San Francisco, New Haven
and a host of other cities in Connecticut.

There was no immediate comment available from EPA officials.

EPA has maintained that it does not believe the rule will result in
significant changes in emissions, and that it will preserve the public
health protections required under law.

Environmental and health groups, including the Natural Resources
Defense Council and the American Lung Association, also challenged the
rule in the appeals court.

They argued EPA's maintenance rule violates the Clean Air Act by
letting power plants and other industries increase pollution
significantly without adopting control measures, and public harm would
result.

"This is a great gift to the American people and a lump of coal to the
Bush administration and its polluter friends," John Walke, NRDC's
clean air director. "The court agreed this rule would cause great harm
to the public that could not be undone, and it's likely the rule will
be struck down for running afoul of the Clean Air Act."