"The Thompson Hill section needs a sewer system, but people there have set their minds that they don't want it," said Joseph Laroche, 84, a former member of the local pollution control authority.
A coalition of California utilities and pollution-control authorities is financing the plant's construction with a $5 million grant.
Nevertheless, a relatively small but important market for electric vehicles is already emerging in the Los Angeles basin, where pollution-control authorities are moving to restrict the sale of gasoline-powered vehicles.
In March, an initial court decision from the lawsuit by the 27 villagers declared Map Ta Phut a "pollution control zone," obliging the authorities to measure soil and water quality regularly and to come up with a plan to reduce pollution if it is too high.
For instance, an individualist might concede that anthropogenic climate change is a problem if the solution encourages more autonomy, deregulation, and business opportunity instead of just pollution controls mandated by authorities.
In fact, the proposal strips the boards of their authority to set pollution control standards, currently shared with the Department of Health Services, as well as their power to oversee underground tanks, clean up toxic pits and inspect hazardous waste generators.
These firms were presumed to decrease their earnings to anticipate and avoid political costs in the context of a pollution control, evaluation and rating program by the authorities.
Under the Clean Air Act, the EPA adopts air pollution control regulations and plans, but lacks the authority to force states to comply.
The EPA has authority under the 1972 Federal Water Pollution Control Act (FWPCA) Amendments and the 1977 Clean Water Act to issue permits for effluent discharge.
