Washington, other states plan to sue feds over power-plant gas emissions

Washington yesterday joined several East Coast states that are planning to sue the Bush administration for not reducing greenhouse gases produced by dirty power plants.

While most of Washington's energy comes from hydropower, and the state has rules to control power-plant emissions, the state Attorney General's Office said Washington had too much to lose if the White House didn't do more to cut back on the single biggest contributor to global warming.

"There's the loss of snowpack," said David Mears, senior assistant attorney general for Washington. "One impact is rising ocean levels. And Washington could clamp down to the Nth degree on its own greenhouse emissions and still make no dent in the problem."

Washington yesterday became the only Western state to join New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Jersey, Maine and Rhode Island in filing notice that it will sue the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for not reviewing and updating emissions standards for carbon dioxide-producing power plants. The suit also will argue that current limits allow too much sulfur dioxide and particulate matter from power plants.

New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, a Democrat, said states were forced to act after the Bush administration, rather than instituting mandatory controls, gathered agreements in recent months from utilities, automakers and oil refiners to voluntarily curb emissions of carbon dioxide. "The EPA has been eaten alive by the companies it is supposed to be regulating," Spitzer said.

Northeastern states, exposed to emissions drifting from industrial plants in the Midwest, have been vocal in opposing the administration's policy. U.S. power plants emit more than 35 percent of the carbon dioxide in the country and account for 10 percent of the gas released worldwide.

"The message to us has been, 'Northeast, drop dead,' " Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said.

EPA spokesman Joe Martyak said the agency has reviewed some pollutants, such as smog-causing nitrogen oxides. But, he said, administration officials "have been clear that CO2 is not a pollutant under the Clean Air Act."

Until now, Washington state — with power supplies less damaging to air quality, and its regulations — has been largely silent on EPA's air-emissions work. Mears said attorneys general in New York and Massachusetts wanted a West Coast state involved to lend credibility to their fight.

Washington Attorney General Christine Gregoire's high-profile work against big tobacco in the late 1990s, and her battles with the Department of Energy over Hanford nuclear cleanup, made her a likely choice.

Because New York was playing the lead and it would require little original research from Gregoire's office, it "felt like a good investment," Mears said.

"I guess it's not surprising that some states would reach out to her," he said.

Martyak, the EPA spokesman, saw it differently, suggesting the lawsuit smacked of politics. Each of the seven attorneys general either serves a Democratic governor or — in New York's case — is an independently elected Democrat.

Information from Seattle Times news services is included in this report. Craig Welch: cwelch@seattletimes.com or 206-464-2093.