Environmentalists have lost a four-year federal court battle here in which they argued U.S. pollution-control standards should apply to two power plants recently built just south of the U.S.-Mexican border to provide electricity to Southern California. At immediate issue was whether the U.S. power companies Sempra Energy and InterGen should be allowed to build separate cross-border transmission lines from their new plants, located about three miles south of the international border near Mexicali, Baja California. That question sparked broader argument in the case over whether the plants should be subject to California emissions standards since they were selling power in the state and might pose cross-border air and water impacts. Green groups argued they should. But on Nov. 30, U.S... [Log in to read more]
