Under the administration's proposal, companies like Southern would be in better position to win lawsuits that accuse them of violating the new source review statute.
In the lawsuit, the government contends that Southern increased the output from Miller without installing the proper pollution control equipment, violating the new source review statute.
The Clinton Justice Department sued Southern over five of Alabama Power's coal-fired plants, including the three near Birmingham, accusing them of violating the new source review statute.
Mr. Lehner said the attorney general hoped to get around that federal ruling by using state law, but Mr. Lhota said: "No state or city environmental quality review statute or regulations contains such a requirement.
Environmentalists like Mr. Schaeffer contend that had utilities like Southern followed the new source review statute and installed pollution-control technologies years ago, the cuts in noxious emissions would be even more substantial now.
When he resigned from the E.P.A. in February, Mr. Schaeffer complained that energy companies facing federal lawsuits under the new source review statute were lobbying the Bush administration to have it weakened.
Courts must be especially careful reviewing statutes of this sort because of the danger that freedom of expression may be wrongly curtailed.
Initially written down by William Blackstone, this theory makes Parliament the sovereign law-maker, preventing the common law courts from not only throwing aside but also reviewing statutes in the fashion Coke suggested.
State legislatures are only just beginning to review their statutes of limitations in light of the DNA databases.
Congress should also review the statutes, policies and procedures that govern the national security classification of intelligence information and its protection from unauthorized disclosure.
Coke's meaning has been disputed over the years; some interpret his judgement as referring to judicial review of statutes to correct misunderstandings which would render them unfair, while others argue he meant that the common law courts have the power to completely strike down those statutes they deem to be repugnant.
