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Aside from John Tabor and Susan Burgess, two other City Councilmembers had definite responses to the possibility of joining the EPA lawsuit.

"There is a need for caution," said Nancy Carter. "We need to look at things like the expense, what liability is involved, would enforcement of such standards be suspended while dealing with litigation, and is this the best way to attack diminution of our environmental standards. But it (the lawsuit) does seem like a viable option which I would consider."

Newly elected councilmember John Lassiter said the biggest problem is that other states aren't as aggressive as NC in controlling pollution. "Pollution drifting into our state from coal-fired power plants and manufacturing plants has always been a problem," said Lassiter. "The states in the Northeast have a higher number of coal-fired plants than what we have in the South."

Of Bush's rule changes to the Clean Air Act, Lassiter said, "There are lots of regulatory arrangements set up that way -- where you can have a certain amount of improvement and maintenance before it triggers what you might have to do if you build a new facility from the ground up. I think that's fair to businesses. You've got to comply with existing law but if, in fact, you decide to build a new plant or substantially renovate a plant to the point that it's operating as if it's new, you ought to comply with whatever the new rules are. I don't really see it (EPA rule changes) as a giant loophole. I think problems exist by other states failing to enforce aggressive anti-pollution rules like in NC."

Councilmembers Patrick Cannon and Pat Mumford said they didn't know enough about the lawsuit or the changes to the Clean Air Act to take a position one way or the other. Outgoing Councilmember Joe White said that, although he is committed to working for a cleaner environment, he doesn't know enough about this issue to comment. Mayor McCrory, whose influence with this City Council is minimal in any case, never bothered to respond at all, after numerous phone calls and emails. It's very possible that since he is employed by Duke Power, McCrory would need to recuse himself from a debate on this issue if one came up.

Calls for Investigation
The latest rub in this issue is that the EPA has announced it will likely drop investigations into 50 power plants for past violations of the Clean Air Act. During the Clinton administration, the Justice Department initiated lawsuits and ordered investigations against dozens of oil refineries and about 50 coal-fired power plants, including eight owned by Duke Power, for their failures to install pollution controls under the requirement of routine maintenance. But now, lawyers for the EPA have stated that while they intend to pursue cases already filed against various plants, other pending cases will likely be judged under the new, less stringent rules that include exemptions and would make it almost impossible to sustain the investigations. Agency lawyers and environmental groups say that the new standard would shield almost all of the plants under investigation, and would undermine investigations that had already found serious violations at the 50 plants.

Now, in response to these latest developments, several senators and attorneys general from the Northeast -- including Eliot Spitzer of New York and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut -- have called for an investigation into the EPA's decision. Spitzer had also demanded that the agency turn over all of its files on the investigations so he and officials in other states can proceed with the cases.

This development is just the latest in a series of moves by the Bush administration that has congressional critics and environmental groups saying President Bush is a puppet of the utility and oil industries, among others, all of which were among his biggest campaign donors.

Edsell stated that virtually every environmental group that has worked on clean air issues in the state is taking a stand against Bush's new rules, and that they are urging state officials to join in the lawsuit. "We are reaching out to folks in the NC delegation in DC as well as the NC State House." Edsell added that they're also reaching out to minority groups, whose neighborhoods have a disproportionately high number of pollution sources, as well as fishermen, whose livelihoods are threatened by elevated levels of mercury, and the elderly, who suffer the most from respiratory problems related to air pollution.