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Bill Holman, state secretary of environment and natural resources: <br />~If eve cut [power plant] emissions substantially, then we will reduce ozone pollutions in Piedmont citiB <br />BY JamVs~,.E,'ra SHIPPER <br />AND tuittlN SCHH,L <br />STAFF WRITERS <br />' When pollution thickens the summer <br />breeze in North Carolina's cities, the gov- <br />ernmentwarns people to stop driving and <br />mowing their lawns to keep lung-searing <br />smog from getting worse. But officials can't <br />do anything about the biggest air polluters <br />of all - the smokestacks of coal-fired elec- <br />tric power plants that ring the Triangle, the <br />Triad and Charlotte. <br />Because of a special provision in the <br />Clean Air Act, 14 power plants owned by <br />Carolina Power 8i Light and Duke Power <br />have been allowed to burn millions of tons <br />of coal without modern pollution controls. <br />After a year of fruitless negotiations, the <br />dispute over that smog-forming pollution <br />has turned into a public confrontation <br />between Gov Jim Hunt and the state's two <br />utility giants. This week, Hunt will formal- <br />lypropose new regulations designed to cut <br />bytwo-thirds the nitrogen oxide pollution <br />billowing out of the 14 plants. <br />Hunt's environmental officials say the <br />bad air in cities and mountain forests <br />can't be cleaned up simply by muzzling <br />cars because coal-burning power plants <br />produce up to half of the nitrogen oxides <br />released into North Carolina's air -the <br />equivalent pollution of 12 million to 15 <br />million cars. <br />"If we cut their emissions substantially, <br />then we will reduce ozone pollution in <br />Charlotte, the Triad and the Triangle," said <br />Bill Holman, the state secretary of <br />environment and natural resources. "This <br />will mean cleaner air for our citizens." <br />But the power companies counter that <br />Hunt's plan could cost them up to $600 <br />million without solving the smog problem. <br />CP&L and Duke Power officials point out <br />SEE POL,WTION~ PAGE Z2A <br />aNSlp <br />Texas plan f <br />ling plant pc <br />might work r <br />22A <br />tvery year the coal-burning CP&L power plant at Roxboro puts out 51,800 pounds of nitrogen oxides. The state seeks a sharp reduc <br />STAFF PHOTO BY CHRISTOBAI PEREZ <br />