MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) – Vermont’s independent U.S. Sen. James Jeffords is asking New York Governor George Pataki to prevent the International Paper Co. from testing a system that would burn tire chips for energy.

In a letter to Pataki dated Monday, Jeffords said he didn’t want Vermont, which is downwind of the Ticonderoga plant, to be used as a “guinea pig” for the project.

“If the winds blew in the opposite direction, I am sure the residents of New York would have similar concerns,” wrote Jeffords, the ranking member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.

“Prevailing winds bring in pollution from Midwest power plants, making New England the exhaust pipe of the nation. We should be working together to reduce pollution, not allowing it to increase,” Jeffords wrote.

Jeffords sent a similar letter to Stephen Johnson, the acting administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.