March 3, 2003
CONTACTS: Michael Fiorentino: 215-567-4004 x238

CLEAN AIR COUNCIL AND ALLIED ENVIRONMENTAL GROUPS SUE BUSH ADMINISTRATION OVER CLEAN AIR ROLLBACKS

Philadelphia - March 3, 2003 Seven Midwestern and Southeastern environmental organizations filed suit today, represented by lawyers from the Clean Air Task Force, in the U.S. Court of Appeals here, challenging the federal EPA's rollback of clean air rules affecting industrial facilities and coal- and oil-fired power plants. The groups are located in areas of the country particularly afflicted by dirty air emissions from older industrial and utility sources.

EPA's rules significantly erode the legal requirement that these sources upgrade to modern pollution control standards when they make significant plant improvements. The seven groups on Friday also filed, as part of a coalition of national environmental groups, an administrative petition with EPA requesting that the Agency reconsider its final rules.

"The EPA rules are patently illegal - they are directly contrary to the Clean Air Act's clear requirement that older industrial plants must clean up or be replaced eventually by cleaner emitting facilities," said Ann Weeks of the Clean Air Task Force, counsel to the groups.

The groups filing suit today are located in areas currently experiencing dirty air episodes, including summer ozone levels exceeding 1997 federal ozone standards. "Ozone smog makes it harder for all of us to breathe--some people experience asthma attacks and even premature death," said Joseph Otis Minott, Executive Director of Pennsylvania-based Clean Air Council. "For those living in heavily polluted areas, EPA's rules changes are truly disconcerting."

A recent study by Abt Associates reports that up to 170,000 asthma attacks and 9,000 deaths yearly result from particulate matter emitted by about 50 coal-fired power plants in the Midwest and Southeast alone. These plants are but a small subset of the facilities potentially let off the clean-up hook in the future by the challenged EPA rules.

"These rollbacks deal a serious blow to public health in our states," said Michael Fiorentino, Air Program Manager of Clean Air Council. "We have no choice but to add our voices to those of the state attorneys general who have already filed suit."

The states of California, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Wisconsin, as well as the District of Columbia already have filed challenges to these rules.

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