Appeals court sides with EPA on relaxed anti-pollution plant upgrades News
Appeals court sides with EPA on relaxed anti-pollution plant upgrades

[JURIST] A three judge panel of the US DC Circuit Court of Appeals Friday rejected claims by thirteen states that the Bush administration's decision to let older power plants emit more pollution violates the Clean Air Act [text]. The policy upheld in State of New York v. EPA [PDF opinion] allows plants to modernize without requiring installation of expensive new pollution controls. The administration feared the mandatory upgrades would hinder innovation and changes that increase productivity. The court indicated it was unclear that the administration's changes in the New Source Review [EPA backgrounder] will lead to greater pollution. The EPA New Source Review rules apply to 17,000 facilities, including power plants, refineries, steel mills, and pharmaceutical factories. AP has more.

THIS DAY @ LAW

Ku Klux Klan founded

The US hate group known as the Ku Klux Klan was founded on December 24, 1865 in Pulaski, Tennessee as a reaction to reconstruction efforts following the Union victory in the American Civil War. The group would later become notorious for its attacks on Black Americans, being targeted by the Enforcement Act of 1871, which imposed civil and criminal liability for deprivation of constitutional rights. Read the Enforcement Act of 1871.  

Hamid Karzai born

On December 24, 1957, Hamid Karzai was born in Karz, Afghanistan. He would go on to become in 2004 his country's first elected president after the end of Taliban rule in 2001.