From: Lori Goodman

New Mexico AG joins states opposing EPA mercury levels

SANTA FE, N.M. -- New Mexico Attorney General Gary King has joined more

than a dozen states that are challenging the U.S. Environmental

Protection Agency's rules governing mercury emissions from power

plants.

The states have filed a brief with a federal appeals court in

Washington, D.C., asking that the existing rules be thrown out and that

EPA be directed to establish new, more stringent standards.

"Simply put, this brief alleges that the EPA's rules weaken the Clean

Air Act. Especially in New Mexico, which has the highest atmospheric

concentration of airborne mercury in the nation, we feel the EPA's

rules are unacceptable," King said Friday. "I made a promise to protect

New Mexico's environment and this brief shows my commitment to doing

so."

The states argue that EPA rules allow plants to avoid the expense of

installing pollution control systems to reduce mercury emissions under

a cap-and-trade program. The plants can instead purchase emission

reduction credits from cleaner plants to bring their own emissions down

to acceptable levels.

The states claim this allows localized mercury hot spots to develop.