Ontario Premier urges U.S. to cut smog

Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty recently headed to Washington to lobby against a Bush administration policy he says will add to the American air pollution that accounts for half of Ontario's smog.

McGuinty met the National Governors' Association's energy and air quality subcommittee to voice his opposition to regulatory changes in Washington that he says weakens efforts to reduce the amount of dirty air floating north.

"My particular interest in going to Washington has to do with the fact that the Bush administration is severely weakening pollution controls for coal-fired generation," McGuinty said of the 440 coal-fired electricity-generating plants in the United States.

"About 50 per cent of the smog in this province comes up from our American cousins," McGuinty said of the two-day trip that he is taking, along with Prince Edward Island Premier Pat Binns.

Prime Minister Paul Martin raised the issue of cross-border dirty air during his trip to Washington earlier this month.

The Toronto Star