NC pursues different way to curb air pollution

North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper is trying a new method to try to get coal-fired power plants, particularly those in Tennessee, to curb the amount of pollution they emit - - through a public nuisance suit against the Tennessee Valley Authority.

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"We know that air pollution from the Tennessee Valley Authority is making people sick. It's causing haze across our mountains, it's killing our trees, it's polluting our waters. We want it to stop. We've asked them nicely. We've tried to work with them. They've not responded," Cooper said. "Litigation is the last resort."

Cooper felt that modern pollution laws were not making North Carolina's air clear and healthy quickly enough, so he turned to the same legal tool that property owners have used through the ages to settle disputes with neighbors, a public nuisance suit.

"When you have people being forced to go to the hospital; when you have little children with asthma who can't go outside on particularly hot, stuffy days; when seniors can't take a walk because of breathing problems; when tourism dollars are being lost; that's clearly a public nuisance under the law," Cooper said.

TVA authorities say they've already spent more than $4 billion to upgrade pollution controls on power plants.