WASHINGTON – In a move to stop what she called the “dirty air express,” U.S. Sen. Susan Collins on Thursday reintroduced the Clean Power Act of 2001, which calls for modernization of electric power plants and tightened standards for emissions of mercury, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and – most controversially – carbon dioxide.

“Our goal is clear,” Collins said. “Maine is no longer going to serve as the last stop” for power plant pollutants.

Collins and other co-sponsors of the bill criticized President Bush’s decision not to support emission standards for carbon dioxide, with Collins calling it “extremely disappointing.”

Bush had pledged during his presidential campaign to impose new federal policy on the carbon dioxide emissions by power plants.

But earlier this week, he announced he had backed off because of the country’s energy problems. Critics accused him of bowing to pressure from energy lobbyists.

In addition to stricter standards, the bill reintroduced Thursday seeks to close the so-called grandfather loophole of a 1970 law that exempts power plants older than 30 years from modern emission standards.

“The nation’s dirtiest power plants have spent the last 30 years using loopholes in the law to avoid emissions reductions,” Collins said. “There is a lot of momentum to finally eliminate that loophole,” she said, and “we need to do all we can” to reduce emissions of pollutants.

Although the Clean Air Act of 1970 imposed strict pollution standards, existing power plants were exempted on the assumption that they would soon be retired and replaced with new facilities. However, most of these “grandfathered” plants have not been retired and are expected to continue to operate until at least 2030 without any emission standards.

The costs of implementing the modernizations will not affect electricity prices in Maine, according to Felicia Knight, press secretary for Collins. “Maine already meets or exceeds most of the requirements under the act,” she said, adding that “some regions of the country, which have spent decades abusing loopholes in the law, will see rate increases.”

Even though Maine’s plants are following the guidelines, other grandfathered plants nationwide are affecting Maine’s air quality because the winds carry most of their pollutants to the state, according to Sue Jones, air quality project director at the Natural Resources Council of Maine, an environmental advocacy group.

“Even if you take every car off the road and shut down every industrial factory in Maine, we would still have an environmental problem in the state” because of all the other plants in the nation.

“Because our citizens, communities and natural environment are downwind of practically every one of the country’s grandfathered power plants, their toxic pollution has immeasurably hurt Maine already and threatens our future,” said Brownie Carson, executive director of the council.

According to a study last year by the Harvard School of Public Health, “Health risks increase for people living closer to power plants. Twenty percent of the total health impact occurs on 8 percent of the population that lives within 30 miles of the facilities.”

“Imagine the millions of tons of pollutants these grandfathered plants are granted to emit,” Jones said. “Closing the grandfather loophole will have incredibly positive public health benefits in Maine.”

Sen. Olympia Snowe, who also is a co-sponsor of the bill, said the bill would crack down on the polluters of Maine’s environment. “This legislation will cap existing pollution,” she said, “and help ensure that Maine’s pristine lakes and coast remain clean and our forests healthy for generations to come.”

Environmental groups strongly support the bill. “Breathing clean air is a basic right and necessary for all life, and this bill moves us closer to protecting that right,” according to a statement by the Sierra Club, a nationwide environmental organization.

“For over a decade Mainers have been concerned about the harmful effects from power plant pollution,” said Susan Sargent, Maine representative of the National Environment Trust. “It’s high time for Congress to act.”