POWER PLANTS EPA weighs lawsuits for clean air violation

Power plants are required to add pollution controls when expanding.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The owners of nearly two dozen coal-burning power plants could face lawsuits from the Environmental Protection Agency for clean air violations stemming from plant expansions or improvements, according to agency officials and documents.
The EPA and the Justice Department are considering actions against operators of 22 plants for alleged violations of a regulation that the Bush administration has been trying to scale back and make less burdensome to industry.
The rule requires utilities to install additional pollution controls when making expansions or improvements that result in more emissions. Utilities have argued the rule has been abused by regulators targeting routine, needed maintenance.
Taking action
No decision on whether to file the lawsuits has been made, but at least 14 of the cases have been turned over to the Justice Department for possible action, said an EPA official, speaking on condition of anonymity because the cases are pending.
Some cases may be settled before going to court or possibly dropped, the EPA official and industry sources said.
A list of the utilities being targeted was obtained by The Associated Press. The only Ohio-based operator is Dayton Power and Light. Allegheny Energy, which has plants in Pennsylvania and Maryland, also is on the list.
The enforcement agenda represents five years of preparation by EPA staff to identify alleged clean air violations under the so-called "new source review" requirements of the Clean Air Act. Among the targets are some of the country's largest utilities.
Neither the EPA nor the Justice Department would confirm or deny on the record the pending enforcement actions.
Previous cases
The Clinton administration brought nine cases involving 51 power plants under the rule, and another six cases had been filed since then, even as the Bush administration has sought to make the regulation less stringent. Seven of those 15 cases have been settled.
The enforcement cases involve regulations that have been strongly criticized by the White House and have been the target of an intensive overhaul within the EPA because of arguments by industry that they have hindered plant maintenance, expansion and efficiency.
In December, a federal appeals court blocked the Bush administration's planned changes in the "new source review" rules until a lawsuit filed by more than a dozen states challenging the changes can be fully considered.