Recently...
Landmark Settlement Makes Polluter Pay
Environment America and a coalition of states and citizen groups announced
a landmark court settlement with American Electric Power (AEP) that
will substantially reduce air pollution from the company’s fleet of
aging coal-fired power plants. The coalition sued AEP in 1999 for
violating the Clean Air Act’s “New Source Review” rules, which require
power companies to install modern pollution controls when otherwise
upgrading their plants.
What's at stake
Pollution from power plants are threatening our health and environment. More than
half of all Americans live in areas that fail to meet minimum health
standards for smog and soot. And pollution from power plants is responsible for mercury that has caused fish consumption
advisories in at least 45 states.
Yet the Bush administration’s so-called "Clear
Skies Initiative" would have weakened the Clean Air Act by setting pollution caps
that fail to protect public health.
The rule was successfully struck down by a
federal court earlier this year. In the absence of federal action many
states are moving on their own to address smog, soot and mercury
pollution.
In the states, we're working to oppose new coal-fired power plants in Florida and Wisconsin.
