WESTBROOK – Both of Maine’s congressmen are co-sponsoring legislation to reduce pollution drift from unregulated power plants in the Midwest.

U.S. Rep. Tom Allen of Portland said Monday he is introducing a bill that would close a loophole allowing utilities, primarily in the Midwest, to continue to emit high levels of carbon dioxide, nitrous oxides, sulfur dioxide, mercury and other pollutants nearly 30 years after passage of the Clean Air Act.

Allen, who sponsored a similar proposal in 1999, said his new bill has at least 16 co-sponsors.

Also supporting the bill are the American Lung Association of Maine, the Natural Resources Council of Maine and the Maine Physicians for Social Responsibility.

The bill would require all fossil fuel-fired power plants in the United States to meet stringent emissions requirements by 2007. Allen also said the bill would remove an economic advantage for old, inefficient plants.