States File Soot Suit Against EPA

(CBS/AP)  More than a dozen states sued the Environmental Protection Agency on Monday to lower soot levels from smokestacks and exhaust pipes, a move the state officials argue would save thousands of lives.

The states argue that the Bush administration is ignoring science and its own experts in refusing to slightly reduce the allowed threshold for soot. The "fine particulate matter" in soot contributes to premature death, chronic respiratory disease and asthma attacks, said New York Attorney General and governor-elect Eliot Spitzer. The pollution also leads to more hospital admissions and other public health costs, he said.

Officials from California, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont and the District of Columbia joined New York in the action filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington.

"It is unfortunate that this coalition of states must resort to legal action to get the EPA to do its job — protect the environment and the public health," said Spitzer.

An EPA spokesman didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

The emissions, described as much smaller than a grain of sand, come from automobiles, power plants, factories and wood fires.

The states want to reduce the current limit by 1 microgram or 2 micrograms of soot allowed per cubic foot of air. The current maximum is 15 micrograms. The states contend the EPA has ignored their pleas and scientific evidence in choosing to continue the current standard.

The federal Clean Air Act requires a review every five years to determine if air pollution standards should be adjusted. The states argue this compels the EPA to act. The states want the federal court to find the EPA failed to obey its "Congressional mandate to protect the environment and the public health," according to a statement from Spitzer's office.

In April, 10 states, plus the District of Columbia and New York City, sued the EPA for failing to adopt strong emission standards to reduce air pollution from new power plants across the nation. They were joined in the suit by several environmental groups.

New York and other states have fought with the Bush administration for years over carbon dioxide emissions.

In July 2005, a three-judge panel in the same court upheld the EPA's decision not to regulate carbon dioxide emissions from cars and trucks under the Clean Air Act. The agency argues the law does not authorize them to regulate emissions to reduce global warming, and maintains there is not enough scientific data to support such a move.

The April lawsuit was filed largely in response to the 2005 ruling, in the hopes that the courts will rule specifically whether the Clean Air Act can be used to fight global warming.

[getserious1]

OK, check of sanity here. Why don't these states simply mandate the 1 or 2 microgram reduction for emissions for their own state?? The truth to all of this is that the EPA DOES take into consideration how much it would cost to make this change. Is there a reasonable economically solution to making this reduction? Will jobs be lost because companies have to spend the money on the technology required for the reduction? I notice that many Libs don't care about reality, they just want utopia without paying for it. Getting rid of all polution would be great! And going without fuel, heat, A/C, Electricity and just about everything for your home would be the total price, are you ready to live out of a cave again?

[getcentered]

You know something's wrong or corrupted with the EPA when it doesn't want to do it's job.

Have the F-ing GOP/Republicans corrupted everything?!!! Talk about CURSORY!!

GOP/Republicans/conservatives/neo-cons are the worst leaders a country could be duped into voting for. They have made a fool out of everyone who voted for them. From our president all the way down to the crappy school board who wants to teach "Intelligent Design" to our children. These people are DUMB and CRAZY! The neo-con generation needs to STAY at HOME and watch TV, and STAY OUT OF GOVERNMENT.

[pendragon679]

Anyone who doesn't believe that those industrial smokestacks are belching harmful fumes should visit a paper mill town like Jay or Millinocket, Maine. I lived within 50 miles of Jay for a number of years; when driving through, the intense rotten cabbage odor from the mill is enough to make your eyes water & it's impossible to drive through town with the car windows down. Residents used to refer to that as "the smell of money." The lifespan of a new car in that town is about two years; it takes that long for the toxic fumes to eat away the paint.

[huskerarmy]

The EPA has gone the way of FEMA and all other agencies designed to protect us under the Bush administration. They have been deliberately undermined to support the GOPer philosophy that all government is bad and corporate greed is inherently good. In the end, they will not be satisfied until we are all working for Wal-Mart, earning a stagnant minimum wage, selling products that are only made in third world countries, living in quarantine zones with no EPA to protect us, breathing soot and dying of diseases that go untreated because health care has become a luxury and status symbol for the GOPer rich. And they will be unable to empathize with the suffering because it will of course be our own fault for not pulling ourselves up by the bootstraps that they, in the name of the profit gods, have so efficiently taken from us. Finally, only in self destruction, when there is no one left fit to produce their product and no one left to buy it, will they recognize the fatal flaw in their creed.

[nadeau4201]

Everyone please read
www.newswithviews.com/Craig/roberts10.htm
It is were America is headed.

[antoniof123]

In the year 2525 if man is still alive remember. The keeps going until it says that if Gods a coming then he should be here by then. I do not think it will be that long until we destroy the world. I just only want one wish, if God is standing and doing the judging I just want to watch and see the faces of those religious people who say we did your will and watch when God answers them. That will make this insanity seem like it had some sort of value.

[pakaal]

"The states argue that the Bush administration is ignoring science and its own experts."

Big surprise there. Sad, though, that the organization specifically designed to help protect the environment (at least that's what the name says) is so heavily coerced by the Bush administration that they need to be told what to do.

[bluestardad]

Stealing Oil from Iraq on an International Scale!

Remember what started the first Gulf War, where Kuwait was slant drilling from their territory under the border into oil reserves under Iraqi territory? Well it is going on again and this time by most of those in the Region that call themselves the allies of the United States. The Saudi and Kuwaiti oil drilling sites are both drilling oil starting on their side of the border with the slant of the drilling process going under the border and into Iraqi territory. It is in the best interest of those business parties, partners and nations who border Iraq to keep the Iraq conflict going and keep chaos in the Iraqi government as long as possible so that this massive oil theft can continue on an International Scale. This is happening now and being paid for by the American Tax Payer and the lives of American Soldiers each day.