WASHINGTON — The Bush administration moved Thursday to sharply reduce air pollution from power plants that emit nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxide, issuing a rule that the Environmental Protection Agency said would eventually prevent 17,000 premature deaths and tens of thousands of heart attacks and hospitalizations each year, mostly in the Northeast.
The action produced a rare moment of broad praise for an administration that has clashed repeatedly with environmental groups -- although some advocates said the White House could have done more.
"It will deliver the biggest reductions in smog-forming ozone and fine-particle pollution from U.S. power plants in 15 years," said Fred Krupp, president of Environmental Defense. "What a great way for Steve Johnson to begin his tenure at the helm of EPA by signing this rule."
Johnson is the acting EPA administrator and President Bush's nominee to hold that job on a permanent basis.
The new Clean Air Interstate Rule caps emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides across 28 Eastern states and the District of Columbia. The EPA anticipates that reductions will come mostly from cuts in power plant emissions.
The rule also sets up a trading system, similar to an existing program for acid rain, under which the states will set emissions caps for individual polluters. Those that produce more than their share of emissions will be able to buy credits from those that are producing less than their allocated share. They may also choose to install new pollution-control equipment or switch to less-polluting fuels.
In addition to imposing the caps, the new rule sets stringent emissions monitoring requirements, accompanied by penalties for noncompliance.
When fully implemented by 2015, the EPA said, the new rule would reduce sulfur dioxide emissions in the covered states by more than 70% and nitrogen oxide emissions by more than 60% from 2003 levels. The agency said the lowered pollution levels would annually prevent 17,000 premature deaths, millions of lost work and school days, and tens of thousands of nonfatal heart attacks and hospital admissions.
The regulation "will result in the largest pollution reductions and health benefits of any air rule in more than a decade," Johnson said.
