Senators look askance on power plant rules

Mike Leavitt, the EPA administrator, has already promised to reexamine the agency's plan for a 70 percent cut by 2018 in mercury emissions from coal-burning power plants. Among the options are requirements for cleaner-burning technology and a market trading system for plants to pay for each other's pollution.

The senators said the utility industry exerted ''undue influence" and there were ''apparent serious irregularities" in the creation of the proposed rule. They allege the rule was shaped by language from industry lobbyists and political tinkering from the White House down.

''If true, these are sure signs of a regulatory process gone awry," the senators wrote.

In addition to Jeffords, the letter was also signed by senators Patrick Leahy of Vermont, Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut, Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, Barbara Boxer of California, Tom Carper of Delaware, and Ron Wyden of Oregon.

Scott Segal, who represents several major utilities as head of the Electric Reliability Coordinating Council, said it was too soon to examine the making of an unfinished rule.

''It would seem that any investigation of the process is premature and political," he said yesterday.

Acting under court order in a lawsuit by the Natural Resources Defense Council, Leavitt agreed to take more time to collect data, gather opinions, and examine assumptions.

EPA spokeswoman Cynthia Bergman provided a statement yesterday saying the final rule will depend on how effectively the technology captures mercury pollution, which is currently unregulated.

''The agency's work is not done, as the process is not complete until the rule is finalized," she said. ''Any judgment on the rule or the process should be withheld until a final decision has been made. We will be reducing mercury emissions from power plants for the first time, and we want to do it right."

The Clinton administration pushed for a 90-percent cut in mercury emissions by 2008. It wanted to require utilities to use the best technology they could. The Bush administration scrapped those plans after the utility industry complained that it was an unrealistic requirement.

Instead, the Bush administration proposed setting nationwide limits on pollution below current levels and giving plants flexibility to pay for cuts by other plants that do more than is required.

But the senators say the current plan would not fulfill Clean Air Act requirements to cut the maximum amount possible of mercury pollution from power plants.