By Todd Hatton / Associated Press
Asheville, NC – North Carolina's attorney general wants the U.S. Supreme Court to reinstate his lawsuit against the Tennessee Valley Authority over pollution from its power plants. The Asheville Citizen-Times reported that Attorney General Roy Cooper filed the appeal last week of a 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals' decision barring nuisance complaints against facilities that received permits under the Clean Air Act. Cooper's petition says the appellate decision conflicts with previous rulings upholding the right of states to stop pollution generated out of state. Cooper sued in 2006 and three years later, a federal judge said North Carolina could set limits on how much sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, mercury and soot could be emitted by four plants closest to the state line. The TVA appealed and the 4th Circuit threw out the case last year.