"This decision is a strong and stinging rebuke of the Bush
administration's underhanded practice of issuing rule changes to
undercut environmental laws," Connecticut Attorney General Richard
Blumenthal said in a statement Friday.
The other states involved are Rhode Island, Delaware, Massachusetts,
New Jersey and New York.
They sued after the EPA published regulations in July 2004 describing
how power plants must protect aquatic life when they use water from
bays, rivers, lakes, oceans and other waterways for cooling.
Scientists say fish, larvae and eggs are killed in the water-cooling
process, which is used heavily in states with many older, mostly
fossil-fuel plants.
The appeals court previously rejected arguments that some species are
nuisances and require eradication.
The court had also dismissed the claim that other species respond to
population losses by increasing their reproduction.
From The Associated Press, 1/26/07:
http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-clean-water-lawsuit,0,5806799.story?coll=sns-ap-nationworld-headlines
Federal Court Rules Against EPA
By LARRY NEUMEISTER
Associated Press Writer
NEW YORK --
The Environmental Protection Agency must force power plants to protect
fish and other aquatic life even if it's expensive, a federal appeals
court said in a ruling favoring states and environmental groups.
The decision late Thursday by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
concluded that it was improper for the EPA to let power plants
circumvent environmental laws -- for instance, restocking polluted
water with new fish instead of paying to upgrade their technology.
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Great decision
Harry
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