Following the lead of federal and New York officials, Connecticut’s attorney general said yesterday that he intends to sue 16 coal-burning power plants in five Midwestern and Southern states over pollution that is blamed for causing smog and acid rain in the Northeast. The legal actions are intended to force power companies to abide by Clean Air Act provisions that require upgrades of older coal-fired plants to include new pollution controls. Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal (D) said he will work closely with his New York counterpart, Eliot Spitzer (D), to mount a case against the power companies, and he hopes other states will join the fight. Meanwhile, the Environmental Working Group released a new study yesterday supporting the EPA’s claim that coal-fired power plants are the single largest human-caused source of mercury pollution in the nation.
