Cross-State Air Pollution Rule

U.S. EPA Curbs Air Pollution Blowing Across State Lines

July 7, 2011 (ENS) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today finalized Clean Air Act regulations that will slash hundreds of thousands of tons of pollutants from coal-fired power plants that drift across state borders.

The Cross-State Air Pollution Rule is intended to protect over 240 million Americans living in the eastern half of the country once it takes effect on January 1, 2012.

Environmental and public health groups and state air quality agencies praised the new rule, while the coal industry cried that economic damage would result.

The Cross-State Air Pollution Rule replaces and strengthens the 2005 Clean Air Interstate Rule, CAIR, which the U.S. Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit ordered the EPA to revise in 2008. The court allowed CAIR to remain in place temporarily while the environmental agency worked to finalize today's replacement rule.

"No community should have to bear the burden of another community's polluters, or be powerless to prevent air pollution that leads to asthma, heart attacks and other harmful illnesses," said EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson. "These Clean Air Act safeguards will help protect the health of millions of Americans and save lives by preventing smog and soot pollution from traveling hundreds of miles and contaminating the air they breathe." read more>>>