Benefits in the air

Maine’s chummy relationship with the Environmental Protection Agency over air-pollution rules, in evidence last week, didn’t happen overnight. The state, as part of a regional group, has built a track record for being sincere in its efforts to cut pollutants and for persuading other states to do the same. It is reaping the benefits now.

At issue is whether facilities in states west and south of here will be allowed to continue to emit higher levels of pollution, which then drifts this way and descends on Maine. The EPA last year devised tougher rules for soot and smog, which would have particularly affected coal-burning electricity plants in the Midwest, but those rules were said to overreach the agency’s authority, according to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. The court’s ruling was a surprise, given that federal agencies have been acting as the EPA did, with the judicial branch’s blessing, for a half century.

Nevertheless, the ruling left Maine with the question of how it was to have cleaner air when an estimated 80 percent of the pollution over Maine originates in other states. Not all of that 80 percent, of course, comes from the Midwest and, in fact, identifying percentages of pollution that drifts from one state to another is not nearly as important as recognizing that the only way to deal with this problem is to treat all states equally.

That means removing the exemptions given to the power plants in the Midwest and requiring them to meet the same standards as everyplace else. Maine, through a group of eight states – New England and New York – has successfully made this case to the EPA, and last year influenced the soot and smog rules. With those rules suspended, Maine could have been forced to meet clean-air rules without the benefit of getting help upwind. This is where the state’s relationship with the EPA comes in.

EPA Director Carol Browner recently wrote to Gov. Angus King and EPA officials were in Maine last week to assure the state that, even with the loss in court, the EPA has not forgotten that Maine’s point – that it cannot clean up pollution that is not produced here – remains valid. Further, Director Browner wrote that the federal agency can take steps to ensure the state is not penalized for problems it did not create.

The politicking over air pollution is far from over, but the lesson for Maine is clear: Act in the best interests of the public (in this case, the ability of the public to breathe clean air) and minor hurdles like a loss in court won’t stop Maine from benefiting.