The people in the east will be able to breathe a little easier as a result of two developments in US. First, a Senate committee pretty much killed President Bush’s Clear Skies initiative, a deeply flawed rewrite of America’s basic cle-an air laws. It would have done more for the industries that pollute the air. It was followed by a new rule from the Environmental Protection

Agency aimed at reducing the smog, soot and acid rain caused by power plant emissions. The Clean Air Interstate Rule is intended to reduce emissions of nitrogen oxides, which help create smog and sulphur dioxide contributing to acid rain. Clear Skies had the same targets. But it would also have gutted several vital Clean Air Act provisions that Eastern states have found useful in combating windblown pollution.

The new rule has all of the upside of Clear Skies with none of the downside. It should be strengthened, and officials still have access to the regulatory mechanisms that Bush’s proposals would have taken away. But the EPA is to unveil its long-awaited rule on mercury, a highly toxic pollutant that has been found in fish. Environmentalists are sure to argue that the rule fails to control local depositions of mercury, does not exploit proven technologies and is biased toward industry. So, the clean air wars will continue in the courts if not in Congress. — The New York Times