WASHINGTON (AP) – The Environmental Protection Agency is considering actions against nearly two dozen utilities for violating air pollution rules the Bush administration has been trying to make less burdensome to industry, according to agency officials.

No decision has been made whether to actually pursue the cases against all 22 utilities, although 14 of them already have been referred to the Justice Department, said one EPA official, who would discuss the matter only on condition of anonymity because the cases are pending.

The enforcement agenda reflects five years of preparation by EPA staff to identify alleged clean air violations by some of the country’s largest utilities.

Neither the EPA nor the Justice Department would confirm or deny the pending enforcement actions Wednesday.

But agency and industry sources acknowledged that EPA staff has developed a list of 22 utilities that the government is considering suing because of alleged clean air violations stemming from changes or expansions at some of their coal-burning power plants. The law says that when certain improvements are made at a plant, causing more pollution, additional emission controls also must be installed.

Agency officials cautioned that it will be up to Justice to decide which cases to actually file lawsuits on and that no determination had yet been made on any of the 22 cases. In many of the cases, settlements may be reached in advance of a court filing.

The EPA staff list of new enforcement cases was obtained late Wednesday by The Associated Press.

The cases referred to Justice include possible violations at power plants across the country, including New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Indiana, Florida, Mississippi and Oregon.

Among them are plants owned by the federally owned Tennessee Valley Authority; Atlanta-based Southern Co. subsidiaries Gulf Power in Florida and Mississippi Power; Pacific Gas & Electric in California; and PacificCorp in Oregon.

Another eight cases are still under review at the EPA. These include possible actions against Michigan-based Consumers Energy, Indian Power and Light and Westar Energy in Kansas and Northern Indiana Public Service Corp., according to individuals who have seen the list.

The enforcement cases involve regulations that have been strongly criticized by the White House and have been the target of an intensive review within the EPA to try to make them less burdensome to power plant operators.

In December, a federal appeals court blocked the Bush administration changes in the so-called “new source review” rules until a lawsuit filed by more than a dozen states challenging the changes can be fully considered.

In the meantime, EPA Administrator Mike Leavitt has said he intends to vigorously prosecute violators of the rules, including cases filed by the Clinton administration as well as any new cases that have merit.

The list of 22 new enforcement cases, first reported Wednesday by Greenwire, an online newsletter, represents the most definitive sign to date of the EPA’s intentions even as the rule changes work their way through the courts.

Critics of the new source review regulations say they have been misused by targeting routine maintenance activities. The changes implemented last year by the Bush administration – and later blocked by the appeals court – were aimed at addressing those criticisms.

Scott Segal, a spokesman for the Electric Reliability Coordinating Council, a utility group, said a decision to pursue these new cases “creates more uncertainty” and will further prompt utilities to put off needed maintenance and efficiency improvements for fear of lawsuits.

But environmentalists have criticized the EPA for not adequately enforcing the regulations, which they argue would significantly reduce smokestack emissions if aggressively enforced.

“We have 150 million people exposed to unhealthy air in the country. Yet these utilities are being allowed to circumvent their clean air obligations,” said William Becker, executive director of two associations that represent state and local air pollution control officials.

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On the Net:

Environmental Protection Agency: http://www.epa.gov

Greenwire: http://www.eenews.net/Greenwire.htm

AP-ES-07-14-04 2149EDT