Louisiana Haze Reduction Plan for Coal Plants Upheld by 5th Cir.

USA  – The EPA properly approved Louisiana’s state plan to control and reduce haze and improve visibility at large wilderness areas within its boundaries, the Fifth Circuit has ruled.

The plan implementing the Clean Air Act’s regional haze standards has some admitted inconsistencies and flaws, but it meets the CAA’s minimum requirements and was based on a comprehensive review of scientific and fiscal information, Judge Jacques Wiener Jr. said Oct. 3 for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. The Environmental Protection Agency therefore didn’t act arbitrarily or capriciously in signing off on it, he said.

The state’s implementation plan…