Pennsylvania follows Conn., eight other Northeast states in suing over clean air rules

Title Pennsylvania follows Conn., eight other Northeast states in suing over clean air rules

By Staff

January 27, 2003

HARRISBURG, Pa. -- The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection on Monday sued the Bush administration over new rules that would make it easier for industrial plants and refineries to modernize without having to buy expensive pollution controls.

The administration of Gov. Ed Rendell, just six days old, filed suit in the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, challenging changes by the federal Environmental Protection Agency in "new source review" air pollution regulations.

Acting DEP Secretary Kathleen A. McGinty said the EPA's changes are "troubling for Pennsylvania."

"We believe that challenging these new regulations is in the best interest of the health of all Pennsylvanians," she said.

The new rules go into effect March 3.

Nine other states _ Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont _ filed a joint lawsuit in the U.S. Court of Appeals hours after the Bush administration announced the new rules Dec. 31.

McGinty, who chaired the White House Council on Environmental Quality and was President Clinton's principal adviser on climate change and sustainable development, said Pennsylvania filed its own lawsuit to ensure "our own seat at the table to help resolve these issues" but could also join the other states in asking the EPA to reconsider its decision.

Part of that petition could involve asking the courts to delay the enforcement of the new rules, said McGinty, who also expressed concern over pollution blowing into the state from elsewhere.

The EPA regulations amount to a major change in the way older industrial plants will have to deal with air pollution when they expand, make major repairs or modify operations to increase efficiency.

While the Bush administration has called the new approach badly needed to remove barriers to innovation and increased productivity, the other states' lawsuit argues that it amounts to a "gutting" of the 1970 law that has been responsible for substantial air quality improvements over the past three decades.