Bush looks to lower pollution standards

WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration is considering relaxing clean-air standards for power plants, which environmentalists and Northeastern states strongly oppose and the energy industry favors.\nAttorneys general from six northeastern states traveled to Washington Tuesday to warn that they will sue if the Clean Air Act is weakened.\n"We will absolutely go to court to forestall these new rules and regulations," said New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer.\nNortheastern states say they are victims of Midwest power plant emissions that drift east on prevailing winds, polluting the air and water and exacerbating health problems such as asthma.\nThe White House did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment Tuesday. The Energy Department released a report recently that found Clean Air Act requirements for carbon dioxide emissions from power plants would cost companies billions of dollars and add to energy costs.\nIn the spring, the Bush administration began re-evaluating requirements mandating that power companies upgrade their plants when they put in place more stringent pollution controls.\nThe attorneys general said one of the most alarming revisions being considered by the administration involves changing the definition of routine maintenance so that it would allow massive overhauls but not require more pollution controls.\nThe attorneys general also complained they have been left out of discussions on the issue while energy lobbyists have been allowed in.\nAmong those lobbyists is former Montana Gov. Marc Racicot, recently tapped by President Bush to take over the Republican National Committee. Additionally, Bush\'s point man on energy policy is Vice President Dick Cheney, the former chief executive of Halliburton Co., a Dallas-based oil company.\nIn addition to Spitzer, attorneys general from Connecticut, Maryland, New Hampshire, Vermont and Rhode Island were in Washington. Attorneys general from Massachusetts, Maine and New Jersey submitted statements of support.