FILE – In this Wednesday, March 16, 2011 file photo, exhaust rises from smokestacks in front of piles of coal at NRG Energy’s W.A. Parish Electric Generating Station in Thompsons, Texas. Risking an election-year backlash from Republicans, the Obama administration is proposing new air quality standards to lower the amount of soot that can be released into the air. The move by the Environmental Protection Agency on Friday, June 15, 2012 won immediate support from environmental groups and public health advocates, who said the EPA was protecting millions of Americans at risk of asthma attacks, lung cancer, heart disease and premature death. But congressional Republicans and industry officials called the rules overly strict and said they could hurt economic growth and cause job losses in areas where pollution levels are determined to be too high. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

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