NAFTA PROBE OF MERCURY RULE MAY HELP POTENTIAL ENVIRONMENTALIST SUIT

A request by environmentalists for a North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) panel to investigate whether EPA's plan to regulate power plants air emissions fails to adequately enforce the Clean Water Act could provide the activists with information for future litigation against the agency's controversial mercury proposal, an environmentalist attorney tracking the issue says. The request also suggests first-time arguments that environmentalists could use in any potential lawsuit challenging the Bush administration's mercury plan on water law grounds, although the...