When coal burns in Michigan, trees die in Maine.
Sound fair?
We don’t think so.
Neither do the attorneys general of nine states, including all of New England. They are suing the Bush Administration for — they claim — illegally gutting the Clean Air Act.
The 1970 federal law required coal-burning plants and other polluters to add modern pollution controls when upgrades created more emissions.
But the Environmental Protection Agency’s overhaul of the act will allow industrial polluters to modify plants without putting new controls on their smokestacks.
Maine already gets 70 percent of its air pollution from other states. Tainted air from coal-burning plants in the Midwest ends up here in the form of smog and acid rain. Without federal legislation, Maine can do little to protect its environment from what arrives on the wind.
It’s a brutal blow to a state with 82,000 asthmatics, one of the highest rates in the country.
We are distressed, but not really surprised, that an administration led by George W. Bush has put the interests of dirty power plants above the health of people and the environment.
As a sometime resident of Maine, he ought to be ashamed.
No other president since Richard Nixon signed the law more than 30 years ago has led an administration that weakened the Clean Air Act.
Some worked to strengthen it. In 1999, the Clinton administration took action against nine utilities that had flouted the law by making changes at 43 power plants that added to pollution.
And now the federal government itself has taken action to flout the law.
We agree with Maine Attorney General Steven Rowe, who finds it incredible that states have had to resort to a lawsuit to prevent the Bush Administration from gutting the Clean Air Act.
The attorneys general of New York, New Jersey, Maryland and the six New England states filed their suit in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Dec. 31.
They claim that in addition to violating the Clean Air Act, the EPA’s exemptions are illegal because such sweeping changes require congressional approval.
We commend them for challenging an administration that has the gall to promote pollution under the guise of “environmental protection.”
Right to work
As the new governor settles into his first full week at the helm, we wish him well. Gov. John Baldacci has already outlined an ambitious agenda of health care and education initiatives that will help the economy, yet he promises to keep taxes in line.
New governors typically begin their administrations with great energy and vision. We hope Gov. Baldacci can sustain both, and turn his promises into prosperity for all.
kkreworuka@sunjournal.com
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