By Michael Gormley
The Associated Press

ALBANY, N.Y. - Seven states in the Northeast and the Midwest asked President Bush on Friday to force the Tennessee Valley Authority to reduce air pollution from its coal-burning power plants.

The attorneys general of New York, Connecticut, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Rhode Island and Vermont complained in a letter that pollution from 11 plants in the Southeast is drifting into their states.

"We urge you to act now to stop these violations of law - violations that are degrading air quality, harming the health of Americans and impairing states' efforts to ensure clean air for their residents," the letter said.

The White House is reviewing the letter, said Dana Perino, spokeswoman for the Bush administration's counsel on environmental quality.

"However, President Bush is already on track to mandating not just that TVA cut its emissions, but that the entire power sector do so by installing controls that will cut emissions by another 70 percent," Perino said.

The Knoxville, Tenn.-based TVA said in a statement that it is already spending $5.6 billion to reduce air pollution.

The TVA, created under President Franklin D. Roosevelt's administration, provides electricity to 8.3 million people in Tennessee, Virginia, Kentucky, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia and North Carolina.