ALBANY, N.Y. (AP)-A federal appeals court on Friday sided with 14 states including Rhode Island and stopped the Environmental Protection Agency from going forward with new regulations opponents say would lead to more air pollution from the nation's power plants and factories.

The new rules would have allowed older power plants, refineries and factories to modernize without having to install expensive pollution controls.

The U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington ruled the EPA's changes violated the language of the federal Clean Air Act, and that any such change can only be authorized by Congress. Fourteen states and a number of cities, including New York, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C., sued to block the change in October 2003.

"Public health wins," said Peter Lehner, the top environmental lawyer for New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, who led the suit for the states. "This is a major health issue in the United States."

Lehner said the decision will apply to about 800 power plants and up to 17,000 industrial factories nationwide and will help reduce pollution emissions blamed for as many as 30,000 U.S. deaths annually.

The court "is upholding the words and purpose of the Clean Air Act as well as EPA's historical interpretation of the act," Lehner said.

Rhode Island Attorney General Patrick Lynch said states have been fighting the Bush administration to preserve the Clean Air Act.

"Today's ruling strikes a very effective blow at one of the Bush Administration's most significant attempts to place the interests of big energy over the environment, and by extension, over public health and the common good,'' Lynch said.

In her decision, Judge Judith Rogers noted the EPA's proposed changes stood in contrast to its past practices following the federal law.

Industry groups, however, said the decision would do little to help air quality.

"The decision is a step backward in the protection of air quality in the United States," said Scott Segal, director of the Electric Reliability Coordinating Council, a Washington-based group representing several power-generating companies. "What is it the environmental community thinks they've won? They've won the ability to place roadblocks in front of energy efficiency projects. This is terrible news."

The suit was filed by New York, California, Connecticut, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Wisconsin.

A spokesman for the EPA did not immediately return a call for comment.

On the Net:
U.S.Court of Appeals in Washington: http://www.cadc.uscourts.gov
Office of New York Attorney General: http://www.oag.state.ny.us/
Environmental Protection Agency: http://www.epa.gov

Source: AP-AP Wire Service