COURT UPHOLDS STATE
EMERGENCY ACID RAIN REGULATIONS DESPITE YET ANOTHER CHALLENGE
FROM POWER COMPANIES
For more information:
John F. Sheehan, Communications Director
518-432-1770 (w)
518-441-1340 (cell)
Released, Tuesday, October 19,
2004
ALBANY - Power plants across
New York State will be required to install year-round nitrogen
oxide pollution controls starting this month to comply with state
regulations that were upheld in a Supreme Court decision today,
according to the Adirondack Council.
"This decision by NYS Supreme Court Justice Bernard Malone
clears away the final impediments to the emergency acid rain
regulations the state enacted this fall," said Adirondack
Council Executive Director Brian L. Houseal. "The emergency
regulations were created after a decision by Supreme Court Justice
Leslie Stein nullified, on a technicality, the long-awaited acid
rain program announced by Governor Pataki in 1999."
The Governor's program requires a year-round cut of 70 percent
in nitrogen oxides and a year-round cut of 50 percent in sulfur
dioxide, beyond the requirements of the current federal acid
rain program.
"While the state was in the process of appealing Judge Stein's
decision, it also created these regulations to replace the nullified
regulations," Houseal said. "The emergency regulations
require the same level of cuts as the original program, but address
concerns raised by Judge Stein. The state is still appealing
Judge Stein's decision. That appeal will be heard before the
end of the year. In the meantime, Judge Malone's decision preserves
the emergency regulations. Power plants must begin to comply
immediately."
Houseal explained that the emergency regulations would be in
effect until the permanent program is finalized through the rulemaking
process or clears the final court hurdles. A final decision on
that case could come before the end of the year, or early in
2005, he said.
"The state is now in an outstanding legal position,"
Houseal said. "If the state wins the appeal, the acid rain
program it proposed in 1999 goes into effect. If not, these new
regulations adequately address the concerns of the court and
have survived a legal challenge on their way towards being finalized.
Either way, the air gets cleaner starting this month."
Nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxide are the main components of
acid rain. Acid rain has already destroyed the native life in
more than 500 Adirondack lakes and ponds and is killing high-elevation
spruce forests at an alarming rate. Sugar maples and other valuable
hardwood trees are showing signs of decline as well. Nitrogen
and sulfur pollution are also very harmful to human health. Nitrogen
pollution creates smog in the summer and fine particles of sulfur
can cause and worsen lung disease.
"This decision by Judge Malone will have an immediate and
positive effect on New York's environment," Houseal said.
"The plants closest to home can do the most damage to human
health and are certainly significant contributors to our acid
rain problems. And if we are to persuade the power companies
of the Midwest to clean up their emissions, we must first lead
by example, as New York did by creating the nation's first acid
rain program in 1985.
The program announced in 1999 by Governor Pataki is the toughest
and most far-reaching acid rain law enacted by any individual
state.
The Adirondack Council is a privately funded, not-for-profit
organization whose mission is to ensure the ecological integrity
and wild character of the six-million-acre Adirondack Park. Founded
in 1975, the Council carries out its mission through research,
education, advocacy and legal action.
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