The Bush administration plans to ease off of older coal-fired power plants that have violated clean air standards in favor of "incentives for voluntary reductions in toxic emissions," according to this article in the Washington Post. This decision will formally alter enforcement efforts initiated by the Clinton Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which brought dozens of lawsuits after it uncovered hundreds of cases where aging power plants failed to install pollution control equipment during major modifications, a direct violation of the New Source Review (NSR) provision of the Clean Air Act. Instead, the Bush EPA will seek to curtail new lawsuits while pursuing voluntary efforts -- though it is unclear exactly what this means -- as well as new "legislation to force cuts in pollution at plants that don’t voluntarily cooperate," according to the Post. The Justice Department told the Post that ongoing litigation against power plants would continue "but clearly indicated a lack of enthusiasm." Of particular note, two major utilities, Virginia Electric and Power Co. and Cinergy Corp., were on the verge of settling lawsuits when President Bush ordered a review of the lawsuits upon taking office. Yet the resulting review and shift in policy has led the two utilities to back away from a settlement in the hopes of a sweeter deal. As OMB Watch previously reported, the Bush administration missed its own deadline to make NSR recommendations in August of 2001 and has yet to release its comprehensive package of legislative recommendations. President Bush's relaxation of New Source Review requirements has serious health implications for many Americans. It is estimated that pollution from old coal-powered plants causes roughly 30,000 premature deaths per year. A recent study (March 5, 2002) by the Journal of the American Medical Association concludes that people living in the most heavily polluted metropolitan areas have a 12 percent increased risk of dying of lung cancer than people in the least polluted areas, conclusively linking long-term exposure to fine particles of air pollution from coal-fired power plants to an increased risk of dying from lung cancer.