Indiana environmentalists are fuming over Attorney General Steve Carter's support for a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) plan that relaxes rules on emissions from coal-fired power plants and other industries. Carter and attorneys general from seven other states filed legal briefs in support of Bush administration changes to how pollution emissions are regulated. The briefs sought to intervene in a lawsuit filed by attorneys general from Eastern states who claim the relaxed EPA rules violate the Clean Air Act and undermine state efforts to adopt stricter pollution protections. Officials in Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states blame their air quality problems on pollution drifting in from Midwest industries, including those in Indiana. Carter said the lawsuit could reduce states' flexibility to enforce the Clean Air Act. "Indiana citizens are impacted greatly by these rules," Carter said in a written statement. "It is important that the courts be informed of the views of those in the Midwest and other parts of the country, and not just those of the Northeastern attorneys general." Indiana Department of Environmental Management officials had recommended that Carter not get involved in the suit, which challenges rules that allow facilities to avoid enforcement if they increase emissions but stay within a new plant-wide emissions cap.

Ran 2/10/03