The EPA has filed papers with the U.S. Supreme Court removing the executive appeal of a ruling that would have resulted in relaxing mercury emissions from power plants.

In February 2008, the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia invalidated a pair of EPA rules that would have allowed coal-fired power plants a reprieve on complying with new federal mercury regulations. The appeals court ruled that the Bush plan to allow utilities to purchase emission credits for mercury emissions violated current law. In its statement, the court said the Clean Air Mercury Rule, or CAMR, was wrong to issue exemptions for certain major sources of mercury, such as coal-fired power plants, and that a new rule would have to be crafted that did not allow dangerous regional buildups.

The Supreme Court was scheduled to take up the issue in early April. The EPA released a statement that the agency would soon begin crafting a new rule that would limit mercury emissions.

The EPA said last year that it intends to consider suggestions from the court's opinion, available here, in developing the new rule.