EPA officials say the Clean Air Transport Rule would force all states to be good neighbors when it comes to spreading pollution across their borders.

Georgia's air gets pollution from nearby Alabama and Florida and from as far away as Pennsylvania, EPA officials say.

Under the rule coal fired plants across the country would have to use new equipment to filter out millions of tons of pollutants including gases that make up smog.

Georgia is no exception. But Jenette Gayer of lobbying group Environment Georgia says years of dealing with Atlanta’s air quality problems have put the state ahead of the curve.

"Some of the power plants in Georgia will be cleaning up potentially a little quicker than they were originally going to but it seems like the biggest impact that we will see in Georgia is from our neighbors cleaning up quicker than they were going to," Gayer said.

EPA officials expect the rule to be in effect by early next year.

They predict emissions to drop fifty percent by 2014.

Tags: emissions, EPA, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Environment Georgia, air pollution Georgia, coal plant emissions, Clean Air Transport Rule, Jenette Gayer