By Alabama Public Radio
Raleigh, NC – North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper is calling for cleaner air in his state, and wants the U-S Environmental Protection Agency to force coal-fired power plants in Alabama and 13 other surrounding states to reduce pollution.
North Carolina is home to the Great Smoky Mountains, which is the nation's most popular national park. But air quality and visibility atop the Great Smokies has greatly diminished in recent decades. C ooper blames much of that on pollution coming from out-of-state, which he says limits North Carolina's ability to meet national air quality standards. In recent months, Cooper has sent letters to his colleagues in neighboring states, informing them that he was preparing a petition to the E-P-A.
In those letters, Cooper encouraged the states to consider North Carolina's Clean Smokestacks Act as a model to cut down on emissions. The Clean Smokestacks Act call for utilities to meet pollution standards by improving their facilities, rather than using emissions credits from other less polluting companies.