EPA HQ cancels pollution controls on SW coal plant

More favors to polluting industry from outgoing Bush-Cheney EPA.

WASHINGTON -- A new rule affecting the southwest has just been published from EPA Headquarters, signed by the controversial EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson.

EPA HQ in DC has canceled new pollution controls at the APS four corners coal plant (seen in photo). We don't have all the details yet, but it appears EPA staff took some appropriate pollution control action, APS challenged them, then fed lawyers and EPA made a deal with APS, giving them what they wanted.

New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, Utah and the Najavo Nation are directly affected by the EPA rollback.

Southwest PEER is investigating this latest action by what many people are now calling the US Environmental Pollution Agency.

It will be critical for the new Obama administration to return trust to EPA and other damaged federal agencies by quickly moving to restore transparency and science-based public interest decisions.

UPDATE & OTHER COVERAGE, 11/15: AZ Daily Sun in Flagstaff. People I talked with who've been working on this issue say it was extreme for APS to challenge the need for more pollution controls.

The bottom line is EPA is shelving a pollution control plan at a dirty coal plant because a big energy corporation asked them to, and only because EPA allegedly didn't fully explain the need. No one seems to be disputing the need, but the pollution goes on due to a procedural allegation and deal between corporate executives and EPA.