WASHINGTON – A group of New England senators, including Republican Susan M. Collins of Maine, plans to introduce tough new legislation Wednesday that would challenge the direction that President Bush is driving clean air policies at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The bill, which would target electric power plants and other industrial sources in the Midwest, is designed to cut down on the amount of pollutants that emerge from smokestacks and contribute to such things as acid rain, a Collins staffer working on the legislation said Tuesday. It is significantly more aggressive than the Bush administration’s Clear Skies plan to cut back on the amount of mercury emissions, a major source of contamination in Maine fisheries, the aide said.

“The free ride for the nation’s power plants is over, and for the state of Maine especially, we’re not going to be the last stop for the pollution that’s blown in from the Midwest coal fired power plants and acid rain,” Collins said in a statement provided for States News Service.

The administration’s Clear Skies plan has been broadly condemned by environmentalists and Democrats and moderate Republicans as being too lenient on polluters.

Collins crafted similar legislation two years ago with Sen. Jim Jeffords, then a Vermont Republican. Subsequently, Jeffords bolted the Republican Party and became an independent, caucusing with the Democrats. He was rewarded with the chairmanship of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, where he worked to push the Collins-Jeffords bill to the Senate floor late last year.

However, it did not pass, laying the foundation for a revamped bill being introduced this year. The new bill will be co-sponsored by Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman, D-Conn.

In addition to mercury, the legislation seeks to regulate carbon dioxide, a global warming pollutant that President Bush had indicated he wanted to control during his presidential campaign. However, as president, and through his Clear Skies plan, Bush has pulled back from that position.

The new Collins-Jeffords-Lieberman legislation would also regulate nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxide, as well as end the grandfathering of Midwestern power plants that were allowed to continue to emit pollutants at an accelerated level because the cost was deemed too stiff on industry to effect modern upgrades.

Beyond Clear Skies, the EPA’s plan to set a New Source Review standard would segregate the old power plants from the new plants, an issue that rubs Collins the wrong way – particularly since Maine is downwind from just about every plant in the U.S.

“Our goal is to close the loopholes on the coal-fired pollution in the Midwest,” said Felicia Knight, Collins’ spokeswoman. “Our goal is to say these plants should meet the same standards as everyone else.”

Collins faces a situation in which this bill would be more favorably regarded had Democrats controlled the Senate. With Republicans in charge, the chairmanship of the Senate Environmental Committee has shifted to Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., a conservative who is more closely aligned with industry than environmentalists. It is expected that New Englanders – regardless of party – will be working together against Midwesterners, both sides seeking support from the rest of the country, Collins’ aide said.

“It’ll be tougher to get the bill out of the committee this year,” Knight admitted. A Collins aide working on the bill said it should serve as the discussion point for how environmentalists and the New England states want to see the issue come out.

“There are certainly very important differences between this bill and the President’s Clear Skies bill,” the Collins legislative assistant said. “Both move toward lowering of emissions, and this bill includes C02, and more reductions for pollutants – particularly mercury. But it’s not all that different in sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides. It gets us there quicker.”