The Department of Justice and EPA announced a settlement with Ohio Edison Co., a subsidiary of FirstEnergy Corp., for alleged violations of the Clean Air Act. The government claimed the company violated the New Source Review provisions of the act at the W.H. Sammis Station, which is a coal-fired power plant. The consent decree agreement will reduce emissions of SO₂ and NO_X from the Sammis plant and other company-owned plants by 212,000 tons per year. The new pollution controls and other measures are estimated to cost approximately $1.1 billion.

The suite was filed in 1999 as part of a federal government initiative and was joined by the states of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut to bring operators of coal-fired plants into compliance with NSR provisions of the Act. The Sammis Station emitted a total of 205,000 tons of SO₂ and NO_X in 2003 making it one of the largest sources of these pollutants in the nation. A federal court for the Southern District of Ohio found in 2003 the company guilty of violating NSR regulations, but the penalty phase of the trial was delayed while negotiations took place. The agreement nullified the necessity for a court-ordered penalty.

The EPA did not respond as to whether or not Ohio Edison was one of, or connected to, several outstanding NSR cases for which the Bush Administration chose to halt pursuance in 2003. "None of the filed cases under NSR are currently being delayed," said an EPA spokesman.