Clean air rule reinstated

In a ruling hailed by environmentalists, a federal appeals court reinstated one of President Bush’s clean air regulations while the Environmental Protection Agency makes court-mandated changes. In July, the U.S. Appeals Court for the District of Columbia Circuit threw out the Clean Air Interstate Rule, which required 28 mostly Eastern states to reduce smog-forming and soot-producing emissions that can travel long distances in the wind. The court said the EPA overstepped its authority by instituting the rule, citing “more than several fatal flaws” in the regulation.

But a three-judge panel decided to reinstate the rule while the EPA develops a new clean air program. Judge Judith W. Rogers said allowing the country to go without the protection of the clean air rule while the EPA fixes it “would sacrifice clear benefits to public health and the environment.”