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Statement of John Stanton, Vice President, National Environmental Trust on Today's NSR Ruling

Posted on: Friday, 17 March 2006, 15:00 CST

WASHINGTON, March 17 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The following is a statement of John Stanton, vice president, National Environmental Trust on today's NSR ruling:

"Today, the needs of asthmatic children and the elderly trumped the Bush administration's attempt to repeal the Clean Air Act.

"States have made it clear that limits on their authority to cut air pollution from old power plants are illegal and our nation's second highest court agrees.

"Hopefully the Bush administration will obey the court's ruling and once again enforce the Clean Air Act."

BACKGROUND

-- The Administration's "repair and replacement" rule vacated today would have allowed a power plant to replace any equipment costing up to 20 percent of the cost of replacing the unit, even despite significant increases in air pollution.

-- A report by the General Accounting Office showed that the EPA did not even try to collect the information it would need to determine, if these rules would help or hurt public health. Instead, they relied solely on anecdotal examples provided by industry and unfounded assumptions.

-- Working from Department of Energy and EPA data, the Clean Air Task Force found that the amount of pollution that would have remained in the air, if the rules were upheld, would have meant:

At least 20,000 additional premature deaths per year,

At least 400,000 additional asthma attacks per year, and

At least 12,000 additional cases of chronic bronchitis per year.

Full methodology and background for these figures is available.

http://www.usnewswire.com

Source: U.S. Newswire

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