There's some good news for sore eyes and hazy views in Grand Canyon National Park. Southern California Edison has idled its coal-fired power plant in Laughlin, Nevada, because it can't cut its pollution emissions to court-ordered levels.
    The Mohave Generating Station has been churning out 19,000 tons of nitrogen oxides, along with 40,000 tons of sulfur dioxide, each year. Those emissions, along with 2,000 tons of fine particulate matter per year, drift to the east and over the Grand Canyon.
    Back in 1999 a handful of environmental groups -- including the Sierra Club, Grand Canyon Trust and National Parks Conservation Association -- won a court battle over whether the power plant was violating Clean Air Act standards.
    Southern Edison officials, who say it would cost them $1 billion to install suitable pollution controls, are continuing to negotiate the matter with the California Public Utilities Commission and hope to be able to reopen the plant down the road.
    You can read the whole story at the L.A. Times.