A coalition of public health and environmental groups have sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to force it to reduce mercury emissions and other toxic air pollution, Maine groups announced today.

The Natural Resources Council of Maine, the Conservation law Foundation and nine other groups say the Clean Air Act required the federal government to issue final pollution standards for coal- and oil-fired power plants by December 2002. The Bush administration eventually issued weak rules that were struck down by a federal appeals court earlier this year, the groups said.

The advocacy groups said they filed the suit today in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. It calls for strict new deadlines for action by the EPA.

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