NYT editorial: A Promise of Cleaner Air

The Obama administration has proposed new air-quality rules that represent another important step in the long, litigious struggle to clean up older power plants. But there is still a considerable distance to go before Americans, especially those in large cities, can enjoy truly healthy air as envisioned by the Clean Air Act of 1970. That will require the administration to keep its promise to seek even tougher standards over the next two years, including restrictions on regulated pollutants like mercury.

The new rules refine and modestly improve on rules issued in 2005 by the Bush administration that were tossed out by a federal court on technical grounds in 2008. The Bush rules were unusually adventurous for an administration that otherwise did little to help the cause of cleaner air. They forced electric utilities to make major new investments in pollution-control technology.

The new rules are tailored to meet the court’s objections, and presumably are more likely to survive legal challenge. They are aimed at reducing power-plant emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides produced by more than 900 coal-, gas- and oil-fired units east of the Mississippi. Sulfur dioxide produces deadly soot particles, as well as acid rain. Nitrogen oxides help produce the unhealthy smog that hangs over American cities, especially during oppressive heat waves like the one that has been smothering New York City and other eastern cities this week.

(More here.)