Court upholds EPA ruling

Federal appeals judges say the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency was correct in refusing to overrule state pollution permits for two Georgia Power coal-fired generating plants. The Sierra Club and the Coosa River Basin Initiative wanted Stephen Johnson to object to the operating permits for Plant Bowen in northwest Georgia and Plant Scherer just north of Macon on grounds that they violate the Clean Air Act. The environmental groups appealed Johnson's decision that they had not proved the permits fail to enforce the law, even though the EPA issued a violation notice against them in 1999. A three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals noted Tuesday that the EPA action against Georgia Power is still unresolved.

(Associated Press)