Ontario joins fight for cleaner air

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Ontario has joined a court battle to force a U.S.-based energy corporation to clean up its act and stop polluting air in the province.

Environment Minister Laurel Broten filed a motion in the U.S. Court of Appeals in Chicago, joining the states of New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and two environmental advocacy organizations in an action against seven coal-fired electricity plants run by Duke Energy Corp.

"It's critical that Ontario voices be heard. I stand here representing 12 million Ontarians who every day breathe in the air pollution coming from those seven electrical generating facilities from Ohio and Indiana," she said.

Broten said she would fight the "regressive" environmental practices of the George W. Bush administration at every turn, but conceded she is so far receiving no help from the Harper government in Ottawa.

A recent court filing comes on the heels of a complaint Queen's Park filed with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency over a program known as New Source Review, which lifted some emissions restrictions on American coal-burning power plants.

"Most of all, we would like to see the U.S. federal government and the EPA work with individual states to come up with a plan to protect the air we all breathe," she told a news conference.

Duke, formerly known as Cinergy Corp., is seeking to overturn a lower court ruling that would have required it to install more modern pollution control equipment.

In its filing, made at the request of New York state, Ontario says it has a "substantial stake" in the outcome.

"The Cinergy coal-fired electric generating units at issue in this litigation emit 300,000 tons (305,000 tonnes) of air pollutants into the shared airshed of the Great Lakes Basin," it says. "These pollutants have been linked to increased incidence of asthma, especially in children, and to premature deaths and debilitating respiratory conditions."

It estimates air pollution costs the province $10 billion each year, $6.6 billion of that in health-care costs.

More than half of that pollution comes from the U.S., Broten said, putting the cost of American-sourced dirty air at more than 2,700 premature deaths and 14,000 emergency room visits each year.

The province had 15 smog alerts last year covering 53 days.

Peter Sheffield, a Duke spokesperson, said the company was reviewing the Ontario filing, but said his company has complied with all regulations for years.

"We continue to do our level best to meet demand in a way that is both economical and environmentally sound," he said. "We've spent billions of dollars in reducing emissions."

Despite her vow to fight the White House on the issue of transboundary pollution, Broten did not seek a meeting with Jim Connaughton, the White House environmental adviser who met with federal Environment Minister Rona Ambrose in Ottawa recently.

John Stanton, vice-president of the National Environment Trust and a former environmental official in the Bill Clinton White House, said the Bush administration track record on conventional pollutants has been "horrible," and there is now a leadership void on environmental issues in Ottawa under the Harper government.