ADVISORY: Sens. Carper and Alexander Host Roundtable to Explore Multiple Pollutant Clean Air Legislation

Sens. Carper and Alexander will host this congressional roundtable to examine the feasibility of a four-pollutant legislative approach to reduce sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxide (NOx), mercury and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from power plants. These air pollutants know no state boundaries and can cause serious health effects on Americans, such as asthma, chronic bronchitis, cancer and even death. Also discussed at this roundtable will be what action Congress should take in the near term as a consequence of a federal court’s decision to vacate the Clean Air Interstate Rule, which would have reduced NOx emissions as soon as 2009 in 28 eastern states and SO2 in those same states in 2010.

The senators’ discussion comes after more than a year of major judicial decisions that have raised important questions about durable clean air protections and smooth, effective clean air planning.

On July 11, 2008, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit vacated the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Clean Air Interstate Rule establishing caps on SO2 and NOx to reduce interstate air pollution across the eastern United States. On February 8, 2008, the same court vacated EPA’s flawed rule to mitigate mercury emissions from power plants through a cap and trade program. And on April 2, 2007, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected EPA’s claim that the agency lacked authority under the nation’s clean air laws to address heat-trapping greenhouse gases or CO2.

Sens. Carper and Alexander, both members of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, are in agreement that the nation’s air is not getting any healthier while clean air regulations are discussed in court, and only Congress can put the nation back on the right track toward clean air.