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Out-Of-State Air Pollution Battle Could Help Chesapeake

BALTIMORE (AP) -- A court battle by New York and North Carolina over out-of-state air pollution could help clean the Chesapeake Bay.

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced Monday that he has asked the federal Environmental Protection Agency to promptly implement rules on how much air pollution can cross state lines. Schneiderman and North Carolina's attorney general made the request last week in a letter to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson.

The states successfully argued in a federal lawsuit that out-of-state pollution was affecting their ability to meet air quality goals.

Beth McGee, a scientist for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, says cutting air pollution from other states will help the bay because a third of the nitrogen pollution in the bay comes from the air.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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