[JURIST] In Tuesday's environmental law news, San Francisco CA officials announced a plan that would close the Hunters Point power plant (owned by Pacific Gas and Electric) by 2006 and the Potrero power plant (owned by Mirant Co.) by 2007. The plan, developed by the city and the California Independent System Operator (CAISO), would scuttle the plants and partially compensate for them by building a new gas-fired turbine plant. The plan goes to a vote before CAISO officials Wednesday. San Francisco's KTVU has more. In other news, Japan is negotiating with Romania to trade emission reduction units in advance of the upcoming entry into force of the Kyoto Protocol. The protocol, an instrument of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, allows a country to achieve emission reduction units which count towards the country's greenhouse gas emissions reduction requirement. Countries can trade the units, and Japan hopes to aid Romania with energy-saving projects in exchange for Romanian emission reduction units. The protocol enters into force in February. The Japan Times has the story.... The EPA condemned a report[PDF] released Monday by the Commission for Environmental Cooperation, an organization set up by the US, Canada and Mexico under the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation which complements the environmental provisions of NAFTA. The report recommends a number of controversial measures to prevent US corn from threatening native Mexican crops, including the milling of all US corn at the border, additional labeling requirements, and extension of the ban on planting modified corn in Mexico. The EPA says the report is fundamentally flawed and unscientific. The Chicago Tribune has more.