WEDNESDAY, JULY 7, 2010
KLMNO POLITICS THE NATION &
Clean-air rule aims to limit coal emissions
Associated Press The Obama administration pro-
posed Tuesday a new rule to tight- en restrictions on pollution from coal-burning power plants in the eastern half of the country, a key step to cut emissions that cause smog. The Environmental Protection
Agency said the new rule repre- sented its most consequential ef- fort yet to tackle pollution that contributes to smog and soot that hangs over more than half the country. The rule would cost near- ly $3 billion a year, costs that are likely to be passed along to con- sumers. “We believe that today is mark- ing a large and important step in EPA’s effort to protect public health,” said the agency’s top air pollution official, Gina McCarthy. The rule, to be finalized next
year, aims to cut sulfur dioxide emissions by 71 percent from 2005 levels by 2014 and nitrogen oxide emissions by 52 percent in the same time frame. Known as the Clean Air In-
terstate Rule, the measure re- quires 31 states from Massachu- setts to Texas to reduce smog and soot-producing emissions that can travel long distances in the wind. The agency predicted the rule would prevent about 14,000 to 36,000 premature deaths a year. “We’re working to limit pollu-
tion at its source, rather than wait- ing for it to move across the coun- try,” EPA Administrator Lisa Jack- son said in a statement. The new standard would over- turn and toughen rules issued during the administration of for- mer president George W. Bush. A federal judge threw out the Bush clean-air rule in 2008, but an ap- peals court later reinstated it, while ordering the EPA to make changes that better explain how the rule protects public health. More than a dozen states, along
with environmental groups, sued the EPA several years ago, con- tending that the Bush administra- tion ignored science and its own experts when it decided in 2006 not to lower the nearly decade-old soot standard. Environmental groups hailed
the new rule as a step toward tam- ing pollution from coal-fired pow- er plants and solving the problem of one state’s emissions harming residents in other states. But industry groups said it will boost power prices and force many older coal-fired power plants to be closed. Jeff Holm- stead, a former EPA official who authored the original interstate rule, said it was not clear whether utilities will be able to meet the new standards while still provid- ing affordable and reliable electric power.
by Colum Lynch
new york — When Queen Elizabeth II first visited New York City, in 1957, the glamorous young monarch was welcomed with a ticker-tape parade befitting war heroes or World Series champs. On Tuesday, as the 84-year-old royal addressed the U.N. General Assembly for the first time since then, there was hardly a well- wisher to be found outside U.N. headquarters. The low-key welcome was
largely by design, reflective of the rest of the queen’s somber New York agenda: a visit to Ground Zero, and to a memorial garden honoring the 67 British victims of the Sept. 11 attacks. But the quiet reception also pointed to a mon- archy whose popular appeal has perhaps crested.
“I suppose the British mon-
archy was a bigger deal in 1957 than now,” said Sir Brian Ur- quhart, a former high-ranking U.N. official from Britain who met the queen during her visit five decades ago. Inside the United Nations, there was plenty of pomp Tues- day. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and others warmly wel- comed the queen and her hus- band, Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, as they entered the U.N. compound. “In a changing and churning world, you are an anchor for our age,” Ban said of the queen in his remarks before the General As- sembly. “Your reign spans the decades. From the challenges of the Cold War to the threat of glob- al warming. From the Beatles to Beckham.”
Other senior diplomats were similarly effusive. Japan’s U.N. ambassador, Yukio Takasu, wist- fully recalled his days as a young man arranging for a visit of the former Japanese emperor to Eng- land to meet the queen. But lower-ranking U.N. offi- cials, particularly younger offi- cials with little if any memory of the monarchy’s glory days, were more blase. One British U.N. worker, who spoke on the condi- tion of anonymity, seemed puz- zled as to why the queen had come to the United Nations at all, although she allowed that her “mum thought it was cool.” The U.S. ambassador to the
on
washingtonpost.com
View photos from Queen Elizabeth II’s New York visit, including her address before the U.N. General Assembly and a wreath-laying for Sept. 11 victims at the World Trade Center.
DIGEST HAWAII
Governor vetoes civil-union legislation Hawaii Gov. Linda Lingle (R)
on Tuesday vetoed legislation that would have permitted same-sex civil unions. Lingle acted on the final day to either sign or veto the bill, which the legislature ap- proved in late April. “There has not been a bill I have contemplated more or an issue I have thought more deeply about during my eight years as governor than House Bill 444 and the insti- tution of marriage,” Lingle said at a news conference. “I have been open and consistent in my opposi- tion to same-sex marriage, and find that House Bill 444 is essen- tially same-sex marriage by an- other name.” State House leaders have said
they will not override any of the bills Lingle has vetoed. The measure intended to grant
gay and lesbian couples the same rights and benefits that the state provides to married couples. It would have made Hawaii one of six states that essentially grant the rights of marriage to same-sex couples without authorizing mar- riage itself. Five other states and the District of Columbia permit same-sex marriage. —Associated Press
ILLINOIS
Mob lures police to fireworks attack A mob lured emergency per-
sonnel to a housing complex near St. Louis with reports of a blaze, a shooting and other crimes, then attacked them with fireworks and bottle rockets, authorities said. No one was injured in the on- slaughts against Alton, Ill., fire- fighters and police Sunday night and early Monday. The attackers apparently in- tended the assaults as entertain- ment for a hundreds-strong crowd of adults and children who had gathered at the Oakwood Housing Complex to watch, said Mark Harris, a deputy fire chief who witnessed the attacks. “Our firefighters got in there and started doing their thing, and out come the fireworks,” includ- ing bottle rockets and Roman candles, Harris said. “It does ap- pear we were lured in for that pur- pose.” There was no immediate word
on any arrests or charges in the at- tacks. Firecrackers, bottle rockets and other fireworks are outlawed in Illinois. Police officers and firefighters
were attacked again when they re- turned to the neighborhood to douse a blazing box early Monday. Police Chief David Hayes told
the Telegraph newspaper that of- ficers tried to control the assail- ants by firing pepper balls. He said the assaults turned his stom- ach. “I’m so angry,” Hayes said. “This type of conduct is not sup- posed to happen in civil society.” Hayes did not immediately re- turn calls by the Associated Press seeking comment. —Associated Press
Conn. priest charged with steal- ing $1.3 million in church funds: A Roman Catholic priest was charged Tuesday with first-degree larceny after police said he stole $1.3 million in church money over seven years to use for male es- corts, expensive clothing, and lux- ury hotels and restaurants. The Hartford Archdiocese asked po- lice to investigate last month after it discovered that the Rev. Kevin J. Gray, 64, a former pastor at Sa- cred Heart/Sagrado Corazon Par- ish in Waterbury, Conn., might have taken more than $1 million for personal use. Telephone mes- sages at the office of Gray’s public defender were not immediately returned.
34 illegal immigrants caught along Calif. coast: Two groups of illegal immigrants were caught coming ashore along Southern California’s coast, including 18 people who landed at the Marine Corps’ Camp Pendleton, federal officials said. U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents have caught illegal immigrants enter- ing San Diego County by sea more than 60 times since Oct. 1. There were 49 smuggling cases by sea in fiscal year 2009.
W.Va. unions want governor to take Byrd’s seat: The West Vir- ginia chapter of the AFL-CIO is asking Gov. Joe Manchin III (D) to appoint himself to the Senate seat left empty by last week’s death of Democrat Robert C. Byrd. A Man- chin spokeswoman said the gov- ernor will not appoint himself. —From news services
United Nations, Susan E. Rice, who had not been born when the queen last visited the General As- sembly, had to miss the address so that she could attend Presi- dent’s Obama’s long-awaited luncheon with Israeli Prime Min- ister Binyamin Netanyahu. (She did make it back for a later Secu- rity Council meeting with the queen.) In many ways, the queen’s ad- dress was as much about remi- niscing about the history of the United Nations as it was about foreign policy or politics, al- though she did call on diplomats to take “careful account” of the “risks facing smaller, more vul- nerable nations” from global warming.
At one point in her address, the queen recalled the dramatic changes since her last visit, when the United Nations had 82 mem- bers (it has 192 members now). She cited the massive expansion of U.N. peacekeeping, the rise of international terrorism and the burden of global poverty and cli- mate change. “It has perhaps always been the case that the waging of peace is the hardest form of leadership of all,” she said. “I know of no sin- gle formula for success, but over the years I have observed that some attributes of leadership are universal and are often about
finding ways of encouraging peo- ple to combine their efforts, their talents, their insights, their en- thusiasm and their inspiration, to work together.” She praised the United Nations for its capacity to adapt to chang- ing times. “I have . . . witnessed great
change, much of it for the better, particularly in science and tech- nology, and in social attitudes,” she said. “Remarkably, many of these sweeping advances have come about not because of gov- ernments, committee resolutions or central directives — although all these have played a part — but instead because millions of peo- ple around the world have want- ed them. For the United Nations, these subtle yet significant
changes in people’s approach to leadership and power might have foreshadowed failure and de- mise.” The queen spoke as the titular head of state of 16 countries, in- cluding Australia, Canada and New Zealand, and the nominal representative of 54 governments in the British Commonwealth. But in reality, she holds virtually no political authority and played no significant role in the United Nations’ history, according to Ste- phen Schlesinger, a historian who wrote a book on the found- ing of the United Nations. Still, Schlesinger said he was “a
little surprised it’s taken this long to come back to the United Na- tions, considering she does come to this country with some fre-
LUCAS JACKSON/REUTERS
The queen arrives at Ground Zero to meet relatives of Sept. 11 victims and first responders; she later stopped at the British Garden of Remembrance. Compared with ticker-tape pageantry surrounding her first arrival in 1957, her itinerary was intentionally toned-down.
quency, at least to go to a horse race” — a reference to the queen’s visits to the Kentucky Derby. After her address, the queen visited Ground Zero, where she spoke with relatives of 9/11 vic- tims and first responders, before heading off to the British Garden of Remembrance at Hanover Square in Lower Manhattan. It was hovering around 100 de- grees outside, and she was in a blue and brown floral dress and a summer hat. “Her lipstick was just so,” Deb-
bie Palmer, whose husband, Fire Chief Orio Palmer was killed on Sept. 11, told the Associated Press. “She’s beautiful. She looks like she could be anybody’s grand- mother.”
lynchc@washpost.com Queen Elizabeth’s subdued visit to New York
MONARCH SPEAKS TO U.N.
‘Peace is the hardest form of leadership’
KS
A3
Thank you Councilwoman Cheh and your colleagues on the Council who supported your effort to improve kids’ health by raising the tax on sugar-sweetened beverages.
Kids today are drinking more soda than ever, which is a major cause of childhood obesity. We salute your efforts to lead the city towards new solutions for the obesity epidemic.
Progress was made and we’re looking forward to working together with you and your colleagues on this issue again. Our kids’ health is too important and we won’t rest until we’ve turned the tide of this crisis.
Council of Churches of Greater Washington
Thank you,
Councilwoman Cheh!
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