WASHINGTON — A federal appeals court Friday threw out a major component of the Bush administration’s effort to reduce unhealthy levels of soot and smog in Eastern and Midwestern states, a decision that environmental groups worry will delay action on air pollution well into the next administration.
A three-judge panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled unanimously that the Environmental Protection Agency had overstepped its authority in instituting a rule that would have established a cap-and- trade system for soot and smog.
The Clean Air Interstate Rule, or CAIR, rejected by the appeals court does not apply to greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, which is produced by burning fossil fuels. It would have required 28 states and the District of Columbia to make reductions in emissions of nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxide from power plants.
The interstate rule represented the Bush administration’s most aggressive action to clean the air over the next two decades. The EPA estimated that the rule would help prevent 17,000 premature deaths and reduce levels of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides by as much as 70 percent by 2025.
But the three-judge panel found that the EPA had committed “more than several fatal flaws” in creating the measure, which was challenged by several power companies and North Carolina for a variety of contrasting reasons. The Washington Post
