States Ask EPA to Crack Down on Other States' Air Pollution

The Northeast vs. the Midwest

Eight Northeastern and mid-Atlantic governors on Monday petitioned the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to require "upwind" states in the Midwest and South to curb ozone-forming pollution from their power plants, which they say travels downwind and poses health risks to their citizens.

They want the EPA to force nine states—Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia—to regulate the emissions that cross into their borders through prevailing winds and contribute to higher ozone levels to the north and east of the upwind states.

The move comes just ahead of a closely watched Supreme Court review of an earlier appeals court rejection of the EPA's Cross-State Air Pollution Rule.