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State officials say the lawsuit's goal is to get reductions more quickly. Cooper is asking the court to make TVA cut emissions to levels near those that are required for North Carolina plants under the state's Clean Smokestacks Act by 2013.

Computer simulations of wind-driven emissions from the TVA plants show that pollutants from each plant foul North Carolina's air and environment, as well as that of many other states, according to a report prepared by Sonoma Technology, a consulting firm specializing in air quality analysis.

The consultants estimated emission levels at TVA plants in 2013 without additional controls, then projected that installing controls similar to those planned at North Carolina utilities would reduce nitrogen oxides by 48 percent and cut sulphur dioxide by 69 percent.

Nitrogen oxides contribute to the formation of ground-level ozone. Both nitrogen oxides and sulphur dioxide contribute to the formation of tiny particles of soot that can penetrate deep in the lungs.

Fine soot and ozone are linked to thousands of premature deaths and illnesses each year, as well as reduced visibility, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says.

John Spengler and Jonathan Levy, professors of environmental health at Harvard University, said that the reduced levels would avert about 1,400 premature deaths annually across 33 states in the East and Midwest where TVA pollution disperses.

About 99 North Carolinians a year would be spared, the professors said. Tennessee would have the most early deaths prevented, 180.

Besides fewer early deaths and illnesses, added controls would improve vistas at national parks and wilderness areas in Western North Carolina.

For example, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park would have clearer visibility 43 days a year, while wilderness areas such as Shining Rock would have improved views up to 55 days a year. Visibility in the Great Smoky Mountains would increase from 15 miles to 26 miles on the smoggiest days.

James Staudt, who consults on utility air pollution controls, estimated the total cost to retrofit TVA plants with air pollution control between 2008 and 2012 would be $3 billion, plus $220 million a year in operating costs.

David Freeman, a former chairman of the TVA board of directors who also gave expert testimony for North Carolina, said Staudt's estimates are in line with TVA's own estimates of $3 billion to $5 billion in its 2005 annual report.

"The control measures ... are commonplace in the electric power industry today, and in my view, are clearly doable by TVA," Freeman said.

Freeman said that keeping utility rates low at the expense of human health and the environment is unacceptable in the 21st century.

"I testify with sadness and regret," Freeman said, "that the current TVA management needs a nudge from its neighbors in order to do what clearly is required for environmental stewardship."

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