Global Warming Issues

WASHINGTON | A federal appeals court unanimously struck down a signature component of President Bush’s clean air policies Friday. The decision also dealt a blow to environmental groups and likely delayed further action until the next administration.

The regulation, known as the Clean Air Interstate Rule, required 28 mostly Eastern states to reduce smog-forming and soot-producing emissions. The Environmental Protection Agency predicted it would prevent about 17,000 premature deaths a year.

North Carolina and some electric power producers opposed aspects of the regulation and President Bush found himself with unusual allies.

“This is the rare case where environmental groups went to court alongside the Bush administration,” said Frank O’Donnell, president of Clean Air Watch, a group that has criticized other Bush administration policies.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled Friday that the EPA overstepped its authority by instituting the rule. It said the Clean Air Act did not give the EPA the authority to change pollution standards the way it did. Citing “more than several fatal flaws,” the court scrapped the entire regulation.

“This is without a doubt the worst news of the year when it comes to air pollution,” O’Donnell said.

The EPA said the rule would save up to $100 billion in health benefits.

Besides the reduction in premature deaths, the EPA said it would have prevented millions of lost work and school days and tens of thousands of nonfatal heart attacks.

The EPA said it was reviewing the 60-page opinion.

The Bush administration can appeal the decision, but environmental groups called for Congress and the EPA to quickly begin working on a new law or replacement regulation.

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