The Senate narrowly rejected an amendment on January 22 that would have delayed a rule weakening the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) New Source Review (NSR) program while the National Academy of Sciences evaluates its potential impact on air pollution and human health. The final rule, set to take effect March 3, rolls back clean air protections through a series of exemptions to NSR, which requires older coal-fired power plants to add the latest anti-pollution machinery whenever they are substantially upgraded. The Senate decided to allow the rule to move forward by rejecting the amendment, introduced by Sen. John Edwards (D-NC) as an appropriations rider, by a vote of 50 to 46. Six Republicans -- all from northeastern states that suffer from pollution by western and midwestern power plants -- sided with Democrats in trying to block the Bush administration’s gutting of NSR, while four Democrats, who would have likely supported the amendment, were not present for the vote. Instead, by a vote of 51 to 45, the Senate passed a measure put forward by Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK), chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, that calls on the National Academy of Sciences to investigate the impact of the rule but would not delay its effective date. Although this legislative effort to block the new rule failed, nine northeastern states, joined recently by 12 Connecticut municipalities, have already filed a lawsuit, seeking to block the Bush administration's changes to NSR.