Eastern states are weighing legal and regulatory options to force cuts in upwind states' emissions that transport downwind and hinder their air quality, including lawsuits to force EPA to issue plans to cut pollution; expanding the scope of areas that must impose strict air plans; and petitioning the agency to impose air limits on states. Members of the Ozone Transport Commission (OTC)- representing northeastern and mid-Atlantic states - are starting an effort to assess pollution from upwind sources to determine which facilities and states are causing them the most problems with transported emissions. Tentative findings suggest coal-fired utilities in upwind states are primarily to blame, though power sector officials are already pushing back by placing the blame on mobile sources. The OTC effort to inventory emissions is still in the early stages, and officials at an April 4 meeting of the group in Washington, DC, said it is just one of several steps they are taking to tackle interstate emissions.
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