New Phew Review

The environmental group Clear the Air asked the same research firm that the Bush administration used to analyze its plan to reduce coal plant emissions, the "Clear Skies Act," to compare Bush's plan to two other proposals before Congress. The resulting report found "Clear Skies" to be the weakest of the three. The report estimated that, under current policies, 24,000 people die annually due to power plant emissions. "Clear Skies" would reduce that number by 14,000, but a bipartisan Senate measure would save 16,000, and independent Senator Jeffords' more aggressive plan would save 22,000 lives. Scott Segal of the industry group Electric Reliability Coordinating Council said the report was simply "the environmentalists repackaging the same old arguments."