STATE LAWMAKERS URGED TO LIMIT OPT-OUTS FROM EPA MERCURY PLAN

Electric utility representatives are urging conservative state legislators and other state officials to prevent their states from using an air act provision to opt out of EPA's plan to trade mercury emissions credits -- even though the agency's preferred approach allows states to do so. The utilities' effort creates a dilemma for conservative legislators, forcing them to choose between free-market ideals embodied by EPA's trading plan, and protecting states' rights to enact standards distinct from a federal standard, says a...