Over the holiday break, the Bush Administration issued rules that would weaken requirements for aging power plants to reduce their air pollution when they expand (New Source Review). Pollution from these plants has been shown to cause thousands of premature deaths and tens of thousands of asthma attacks every year.

As early as this Tuesday, Senator John Edwards (D-NC) will offer an amendment to the Appropriations bill that would effectively stop the Bush Administration's rollback of NSR (by stopping EPA from using 2003 funds appropriated by Congress to implement any of the weakening NSR changes, and requiring the National Academy of Sciences to study the health effects of the proposed rollbacks.) This is the most significant action on air pollution issues that has been considered on the Senate floor in years, and we want to do everything we can to make sure that Senator Edwards' amendment passes.