100 Reasons to Get Involved

Reason # 63: Enforce New Source Review

A key provision of the Clean Air Act, New Source Review required utilities to install modern pollution controls whenever they upgraded aging power plants. The Bush administration has relaxed the rule, however, allowing plant operators to keep outdated plants operating (and excessively polluting the air) indefinitely.

Bruce Buckheit, a former top EPA official, resigned in disgust over the Bush administration's dismantling of New Source Review. In an interview with journalist Stone Phillips he asks imploringly, “Can anybody imagine a situation where we have plants that were built in 1950 still emitting as if they were located in China or Mexico? I mean, this country's better than that.” You can find a transcript of that interview here: http://msnbc.msn.com/id/4759864/