A US appeals court Friday struck down a policy by the Bush administration that exempted power plants from regulations on hazardous emissions, ordering the government to set up new standards.
The federal appeals court in Washington said Environmental Protection Administration "was unlawful" in exemption coal- and oil-fired power plants from rules on emissions of mercury and other hazardous substances.
The court wrote that "Congress required EPA to regulate more than one hundred specific (hazardous pollutants), including mercury and nickel compounds" with the "best available control technology."
Several states challenged the administration of President George W. Bush when the EPA in 2005 proposed to exempt power plants from the new rules.
The court said Congress required the EPA to impose tougher standards on these chemicals that "cause, or contribute to, an increase in mortality or an increase in serious irreversible or incapacitating reversible illness."
