Washington (Platts)--14Jan2008

Northeast US states that sought tougher federal rules on power plant
ozone emissions hailed a decision by the US Supreme Court Monday declining to
review a lower court's ruling that overturned Environmental Protection Agency
rules giving the Midwest flexibility on meeting clean air requirements.

"Today's decision by the Supreme Court finally puts an end to this
litigation," said Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley. "We look
forward to EPA's setting a new schedule that requires the Midwest to address
its air pollution sources on the same schedule as the Northeast."

A coalition of electric utilities, the American Petroleum Institution,
the National Petrochemical & Refiners Association and others petitioned the
Supreme Court to take the case after the US Court of Appeals for the DC
Circuit upheld a challenge by Massachusetts and six other states to EPA's 2004
ozone rule.

In its December 22, 2006, order, the DC Circuit wrote that EPA's
implementation of a national ambient air quality standard for ozone was "not a
reasonable interpretation of Congress's approach in the 1990 Amendments" to
the Clean Air Act.

The court also held that held that EPA could not relax requirements for
new-source review of coal-fired power plant emissions, emission fees, and
contingency measures when implementing the eight-hour ozone standard.

"By EPA's reading, the standards could be changed every fourteenth
year -- just prior to the attainment date -- and a state could go unpenalized
without ever attaining even the original NAAQS referenced in the 1990
Amendments," the court said.

In the suit, South Coast Air Quality Management District versus EPA,
Massachusetts and the other plaintiffs argued that EPA must apply the same
deadlines for controlling smog in the Midwest as it does in the Northeast. EPA
had sought to exempt these upwind areas from these deadlines.

"The Supreme Court decision is consistent with the Clean Air Act, as it
treats all areas of the country equally in addressing a common air pollutant:
ozone," said Laurie Burt, commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of
Environmental Protection.