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• The Environmental Protection Agency, under fire from the utility industry and from Republicans in Congress for what they call excessive regulation, has sent signals that it will be flexible in applying the new rules and may grant extensions or exemptions to make sure the lights stay on.The Department of Energy said Thursday that under two major E.P.A. air quality rules that are supposed to be made final in the next few weeks, the amount of generating capacity would still be adequate if power companies and regulators were “prompt” in seeking replacements for plants shuttered because they could not meet the new pollution standards.House Republicans are seeking delays in some of the rules, which affect both air pollutants and power plant cooling water. This year, in the face of political opposition and high cost estimates, the White House backed off on new smog rules, which would also have affected power plants.
• In a conference call with reporters on Thursday, an assistant administrator of the E.P.A. took the unusual step of casting doubt on the work of the group designated by the government to enforce rules on the power grid, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation, for saying that a water rule still under development could force enough plant closings to cause power shortages in Texas and New England.The E.P.A. official, Gina McCarthy, head of the agency’s office of air and radiation, said the group’s report assumed a stricter standard than the one her office was planning to issue.“We don’t take reliability issues lightly,” she said. “In the 40-year history of the Clean Air Act, E.P.A. rules have not let the lights go out, and we won’t let it happen going forward.”
• But Republicans are still threatening to block the new rules. “In these tough economic times, we cannot afford to be reckless with regulation,” said Representative Ed Whitfield, the Kentucky Republican who is chairman of the House Energy and Power Subcommittee.Republicans do not have the votes in the Senate to stop the regulations; last month, the Senate voted 41 to 57 against a resolution to delay one of them, the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule. But the issue could become a bargaining chip in future negotiations on other legislation.Ms. McCarthy said that the cross-state rule would be made final in January and that a rule on emissions of mercury and airborne toxic materials would be finalized on Dec. 16 “or sooner.”
• Meanwhile, environmental organizations are trying to hold the White House’s feet to the fire, emphasizing an E.P.A. estimate that the new rules will eliminate tens of thousands of premature deaths from dirty air.The rules divide the electric companies. Some have old, dirty coal plants and favor a delay. Others have newer, cleaner fleets and anticipate getting more work out of them if their competitors’ coal plants are either retired or have their operations limited; they favor the new rules.State public service commissions are also divided; commissions in Alabama, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Texas have submitted comments in the federal rulemaking process in which they fret over the costs to consumers and reliability problems. In Texas, which has its own grid, the operator, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, has said that generating reserves would fall short of the minimum amount needed to assure reliability next summer, partly because of power plant retirements. Pollution rules are one reason for such retirements.

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