States want lawsuit reopened
New Jersey’s attorney general filed a court petition Monday on behalf of 16 states challenging the federal Environmental Protection Agency’s new mercury pollution rules.
The petition asks a federal judge to reactivate a lawsuit filed last year challenging a rule known as “cap-and-trade,” which allows power plants to buy emissions reduction credits from plants whose emissions fall below target levels, rather than installing their own mercury emissions controls. It is to go into effect in 2010.
The lawsuit was put on hold in October after the EPA agreed to reconsider the rules, but on May 31, the agency’s announced revisions didn’t include cap-and-trade.
RENO, Nev.
Ex-firefighter pleads guilty
An ex-firefighter has pleaded guilty to setting three wildfires that burned hundreds of acres of national forest in central Nevada last August, a federal prosecutor said Monday.
Mark E. Morgan worked temporarily with a U.S. Bureau of Land Management crew. Investigators said he started the fires because he was bored and needed the paycheck.
Morgan, 34, faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine, and he could be required to pay restitution, U.S. Attorney Daniel G. Bogden said in a statement. He entered the plea Thursday. Sentencing was set for October.
BIRMINGHAM, Ala.
Words for Trinity might get option
The divine Trinity – “Father, Son and Holy Spirit” – could also be known as “Mother, Child and Womb” or “Rock, Redeemer, Friend” at some Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) services under an action Monday by the church’s national assembly.
Delegates to the meeting voted to “receive” a policy paper on gender-inclusive language for the Trinity, a step short of approving it. That means church officials can propose experimental liturgies with alternative phrasings for the Trinity, but congregations won’t be required to use them.
“This does not alter the church’s theological position, but provides an educational resource to enhance the spiritual life of our membership,” legislative committee chair Nancy Olthoff, of Iowa, said during Monday’s debate on the Trinity.