Okla. AG vows to appeal EPA's haze ruling

Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt promised to appeal a new ruling issued by the Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday that is designed to reduce haze and improve visibility in national parks and wilderness areas. The EPA rule will impose new requirements on three Oklahoma power plants to reduce sulfur dioxide pollution. In its rule, the EPA approved most of Oklahoma's plan for targeting haze, but rejected a portion of the state plan that dealt with retrofitting power plants with technology to reduce pollution. The EPA's plan is designed to reduce pollution from coal-fired power plants and industrial sources to improve visibility at federally managed wilderness areas like the 59,000-acre Wichita Mountain Wildlife Refuge near Lawton. It would target coal-fired power plants operated by Oklahoma Gas and Electric Co. at Red Rock and Muskogee and another operated by Public Service Co. of Oklahoma at Oologah. The federal plan would require utilities to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in scrubbers and other equipment to remove pollutants like sulfur dioxide from emissions at coal-fired plants. Pruitt, citing data from the utilities, has said those required investments could cause consumer electricity rates to rise more than 13 percent over the next three years...more