The Knoxville News-Sentinel has something short:
TVA is set to go to trial Monday in Asheville, N.C., to defend charges by the state of North Carolina that emissions from TVA’s coal-fired power plants are fouling the Tar Heel state’s air.
The lawsuit, filed in January 2006 by North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper, could have profound effects on environmental laws and emissions that cross state lines.
The lawsuit calls for TVA, the nation’s largest public utility, to clean up pollution from its power plants because of adverse effects on North Carolina’s air quality.
The lawsuit charges that air pollution drifting into North Carolina from TVA’s smokestacks constitute a “public nuisance.”
The North Carolina attorney general’s office claims out-of-state power-plant emissions are responsible for an estimated 15,000 illnesses in North Carolina each year.
The trial will be heard by U.S. District Judge Lacy Thornburg, who previously ruled against TVA’s 2006 claim that North Carolina did not have legal standing to sue the agency over its pollution. TVA appealed this decision in December of that year, but in January 2008, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of North Carolina, clearing the way for the trial to proceed.