MONROE, Mich. – President Bush hailed a coal-powered power plant in Monroe, Mich., on Monday as a clear example of how his efforts to clean the air and boost energy are good for the environment and the economy. But his arguments were attacked by environmental critics and undermined by data from the Environmental Protection Agency.

Monday’s message was delivered from a Detroit Edison power plant to highlight Bush’s “Clear Skies” initiative. It aims to cut government regulations that hamper older plants from getting upgrades needed to improve energy efficiency and reduce polluting emissions.

The Clear Skies measure would phase in caps on emissions of nitrogen oxide and sulfur from coal-burning plants beginning in 2010. It also would put the first controls on mercury releases. In addition, the administration finished new rules last month that would make it easier for factories and other industrial facilities to upgrade without adding expensive equipment to lower pollution.

Bush said the Monroe plant is “a living example of why” his administration is seeking to change environmental rules. Five years ago, the plant embarked on a plan to change the blades on its turbines to make it more efficient, Bush said. But the plant delayed the improvements after an EPA review led to a complicated ruling about the planned change, the president said.

“The rules created too many hurdles and it hurts the working people,” Bush said.

Environmental groups contend that Bush’s policies weaken the Clean Air Act and will not cut the emissions that contribute to smog and global warming.

“It is fitting that President Bush would pick one of the dirtiest power plants in America to tout his so-called “Clear Skies’ plan,” said Angela Ledford, director of Clear the Air, a project created by several environmental groups. “The only thing clear about his plan is that it will allow the nation’s oldest and dirtiest power plants, like this one in Monroe, to continue to pollute and jeopardize people’s health in years to come.”

Bush said a new EPA report showed a 48 percent drop nationally in six pollutants in the past three decades. The amount of nitrogen oxide, a key ingredient in smog, dropped 13 percent from 2000 to 2002, the EPA reported.

But missing from the president’s speech and buried deep within the EPA report was the key fact on smog: The number of days when smog levels violated federal health standards has increased since the president took office.

The EPA’s internal records, which it shares with state air officials, show that after decreasing through the 1990s, the number of smog days increased in 2001 and jumped dramatically in 2002.

In 2000 there were 519 smog violations nationwide and 537 in 2001. The total increased 31 percent to 706 in 2002. For this year, through July 31, the number of smog violations is at 500, according to EPA data.


Detroit averaged 11.4 days with smog violations from 1997 to 2000 and 18.5 days in 2001 and 2002 – a 62 percent increase.

Since the Aug. 14 power outage that plunged parts of the Midwest, Northeast and eastern Canada into darkness, Bush has called for upgrading the nation’s energy grid to help boost the economy.

“If you’re interested in creating jobs, you better have energy,” Bush said. “You’re not going to have an economy grow without reliable sources of energy.”

Bush urged Congress to pass a comprehensive energy plan. House and Senate negotiators are working toward a compromise, but they’ve been hampered by the growing pressures of presidential politics and regional disagreements.

Later on Monday, Bush dropped by a fund-raising event in suburban Philadelphia to add to a re-election war chest that has reached $63 million. His visits to Michigan and Pennsylvania – key states that he lost to Al Gore in the 2000 presidential election and hopes to win next year – were the latest stops in an episodic tour of the country in which the president delivers a political message early and devotes the afternoon and evening to collecting campaign cash.

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(Douglas reported from Michigan, Borenstein from Washington, D.C.)

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(c) 2003, Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.

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PHOTO (from KRT Photo Service, 202-383-6099): BUSH

AP-NY-09-15-03 1855EDT