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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Thomas A Watson who wrote (175279)	8/28/2001 1:35:17 PM
From: ThirdEye	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769667

Dept. of Justice lawsuits vs Electric Utilities. If there has been noncompliance with some Act it may be that the provisions of the Act were stupid in the first place and the Act should be ignored... Why, Thomas, are you advocating flouting the law? Maybe you should have been a corporate lawyer. Would that be your form of nonviolent protest? Trouble is, continuing to pump mercury, nitrogen compounds and sulfur into the atmosphere in protest of a law you lobbied for in the first place is not nonviolent. It's a crime against all of us, even you. See below. It's juicy. U.S. EXPANDS CLEAN AIR ACT LAWSUITS AGAINST ELECTRIC UTILITIES WASHINGTON, D.C. -- As part of an ongoing initiative to stop pollution illegally released from coal-fired power plants, the Justice Department, acting on behalf of the EPA, today expanded lawsuits filed against three electric utilities in November 1999. The United States is increasing the number of power plants cited in complaints filed against American Electric Power, Cinergy, and their affiliates. The government also is asking the U.S. District Court in Atlanta for permission to increase the number of power plants and companies cited in its lawsuit against Southern Company subsidiaries. "Dirty air effects all of us, and this Administration is committed to pursuing companies that are to blame," said Attorney General Janet Reno. "The actions of these companies compromised our health and degraded our environment." In November 1999, the United States charged that these companies violated the Clean Air Act at 12 of their power plants by making major modifications to the plants without installing equipment required to control smog, acid rain and soot. The government asserts today that another 12 facilities owned by these defendants also failed to comply with these Clean Air Act requirements. "Today, we are taking another step in our ongoing enforcement against illegal and harmful levels of air pollution from coal-fired power plants," said EPA Administrator Carol Browner. "Yesterday, we announced a billion-dollar settlement with a Florida utility to cut such emissions. We hope the utilities involved in today's action also will agree to reduce their emissions. Such an action would provide great health benefits to people living in the vicinity of these plants and also to communities located miles downwind. Until then, we will continue to pursue these cases." The power plants targeted today include five American Electric Power facilities in Ohio, West Virginia and Virginia; two Cinergy plants in Indiana; and five plants in Georgia, Mississippi, Florida and Alabama operated by Southern Company affiliates. Each of these facilities were cited in Notices of Violation that the EPA served on the companies in November 1999. The United States asserts that these power plants illegally released massive amounts of air pollutants for years, contributing to some of the most severe environmental problems facing the nation today. The plants have operated without the best available emissions-control technology, increasing air pollution near the facilities and far downwind of the plants, along the Eastern Seaboard. In addition to the companies cited today, the federal government in November 1999 also brought actions against FirstEnergy, Illinois Power, Southern Indiana Gas & Electric Company, and Tampa Electric Company, or their affiliates. This enforcement initiative now targets a total of 29 coal-fired power plants located in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Mississippi, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia. etc. usdoj.gov