Blumenthal Says EPA Change Increases Pollution

Hartford — Attorney General Richard Blumenthal this week joined comments that condemn proposed changes to the New Source Review (NSR) section of the Clean Air Act that will increase air pollution and extend the life of older, dirtier power plants.

“This rule is a sham,” Mr Blumenthal said. “I will go to court if necessary to overturn these illegal new rules that gut Clean Air Act protections. We are determined to pursue our lawsuits against polluting plants, enforcing the Clean Air Act to protect Connecticut’s health — despite the administration’s free pass to the industry.”

The attorney general said that a rule making hourly emissions, rather than yearly emissions, the test of compliance, “makes a mockery of the statute.” Mr Blumenthal said his office will be relentless against power plants to force upgraded pollution controls and save Connecticut citizens from more asthma and respiratory disease.

“The new rule would effectively gut NSR, which requires older power plants to add pollution control equipment when they make upgrades or other changes that increase emissions,” said the Attorney General.

Under the old rule, Mr Blumenthal argued that generators had to install antipollution devices when changes increased their yearly emissions. Under the recently announced new rule, power plants will only have to upgrade pollution controls if the changes increase hourly emissions. That means owners could make changes that double the number of hours their plants can run — thereby doubling their harmful emissions — without adding pollution control devices, as long as the modifications do not increase the hourly emission rate.