States are concerned that the rule will allow utilities to pollute the air.

WASHINGTON (AP) – More than a dozen state attorneys general Monday sought to block the federal government from implementing a rule change they argued would lead to more air pollution from the nation’s power plants. Fourteen states and a number of cities, including New York, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C., are seeking a court injunction to short-circuit a measure by the Environmental Protection Agency before it goes in effect Dec. 26.

They want to block EPA’s loosening of Clean Air Act regulations that would allow older power plants, refineries, and factories to modernize without having to install expensive pollution controls.

“If these rules go into effect even temporarily,” said New York state Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, “utilities will get the green light to spew forth pollution and violate the clear meaning of a statute that has for decades protected the quality of the air that we breathe.”

To win an injunction, the states must show they are likely to succeed at a full trial of the issues, and that irreparable harm would be done if the rule change was enacted even for a short period of time. “Once they begin the pollution, you can never capture that again,” Spitzer argued.

The suit was filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., by the following states: New York, California, Connecticut, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Wisconsin.

The states had filed suit against the EPA last month, but are now seeking a quick court intervention to block the rule change before it can take effect.

A spokesman for the Electric Reliability Coordinating Council, a Washington-based group that represents six power-generating companies, predicted the effort would fail. “This is just another attempt by the attorney general to delay reforms that will improve efficiency and reduce emissions,” said the spokesman, Frank Maisano.

A spokeswoman for the EPA did not immediately return a call for comment.

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On the Net:

Environmental Protection Agency: http://www.epa.gov/nsr

AP-ES-11-17-03 1453EST