US Update
Published by MAC on 2006-06-19
US Update
19th June 2006
Sixteen US states are taking Bush's Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to court for proposed breaches of the nation's Clean Air Act. At issue is the EPA's "cap-and-trade" rule which would allow coal power plants to purchase emissions reduction credits from other plants that reduce emissions below targeted levels, rather than install stringent controls to reduce mercury emissions at their own plants.
The states claim that the regulation would allow localised deposition of mercury to continue unabated near plants that choose not to reduce emissions, perpetuating hot spots and hot regions that can harm the health of individual communities.
Against the will of many tribal members, the Dine (Navajo) council in northwest New Mexico has given the go-ahead to a huge coal-fired power plant.