The agreement was to be announced formally today and the settlement will be finalized within 60 days, the Times reported. Dominion spokesman Carl Baab declined to comment on the report when contacted by The Associated Press early this morning. Spitzer's action marked the first time any state had sued a polluter in a different state for violating the federal Clean Air Act. I hope that this deal will be a template for other settlements. Along with reducing nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxide, Dominion will cut particulate emissions, or soot, at the eight plants in Virginia and West Virginia.
Soot is a factor in asthma and other respiratory ailments.
The EPA and Northeastern states, which have strict emissions regulations, have long said pollution from the Midwest and South is wind-carried into the Northeast. The lawsuits filed against more than 100 power plants allege that the plants violate the Clean Air Act, which was enacted in 1970. Existing plants were exempted, but the law specified that significant upgrades and improvements at an older plant subjected it to the newer standards. The lawsuits charge that the older power plants wrongly claimed they were exempt by describing major improvements as routine maintenance.