Courts
NITROGEN-OXIDE EMISSION LIMITS. Denying an appeal by electric utilities and industry groups against rules proposed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for emission limits for nitrogen oxides at certain electric utility boilers, a federal appeals court has ruled that EPA properly interpreted the Clean Air Act. The act allows EPA to set NOx limits for certain electric utility boilers if it could show that more effective technology for low-NOx burners was available, the court said. It said the EPA acted reasonably in relying on linear regression models and a dollars-per-ton cost-benefit method in estimating emissions, mitigation and benefits. However, it vacated and remanded the EPA's decision to reclassify retrofitted cell burner boilers as wall-fired boilers. Appalachian Power Co. v. EPA, Nos. 96-1497, Feb. 13, 1998, 1998 wl 56312 (D.C.Cir.).
ANTITRUST ISSUES. A U.S. District Court has postponed a review of allegations that a small local exchange telephone carrier, Camden Telephone, had violated federal antitrust laws by failing to provide subscriber listings to a competitive directory publishing company, Direct Media Corp., at a reasonable price. (The publisher's other option would be to copy the LEC's white page directory.) The court ruled that the Telecommunications Act of 1996 requires LECs to provide directory listings at a reasonable price and that the Federal Communications Commission has primary jurisdiction to resolve the issue. Direct Media Corp. v. Camden Tel. & Tel. Co., Inc., No. cv296-108, Dec. 2, 1997 (S.D.Georgia).