U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole encourages her colleagues to confirm judicial nominees Thomas Farr and Robert Conrad on the floor of the Senate today.

U.S. Sen. Richard Burr urged his colleagues to act on the nomination of Robert J. Conrad to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Burr, a Winston-Salem Republican, spoke on the Senate floor this afternoon, Barb Barrett reports.

President Bush nominated Conrad to the post in July 2007, 300 days ago, according to Burr’s office. Conrad now is a federal judge for the western district of North Carolina.

"Bob Conrad is a capable and qualified nominee, and there is no reason why the Senate should continue to drag its feet on his confirmation," Burr said.

Burr's colleague, Sen. Elizabeth Dole, then called on the Senate to confirm Conrad and Thomas A. Farr.

"Bob Conrad is recognized as a judge and judicial scholar of the first order ... by the attorneys who've appeared before him and the judges with whom he works," she said.

A three-judge panel ruled that North Carolina can sue the Tennessee Valley Authority.

The panel in the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the TVA's motions to dismiss a lawsuit that demands the utility clean up its power plants and reduce air pollution.

North Carolina sued the TVA in 2006, claiming that thousands of North Carolina residents suffered ill health from pollution blowing across the mountains from TVA coal plants in Alabama, Kentucky and Tennessee.

The lawsuit also argues the pollution has hurt North Carolina's environment and economy.

"Clean air is critical to our health and our economy," Attorney General Roy Cooper said in a statement. "This ruling clears the way for us to to make TVA clean up its pollution that's dirtying our air and making North Carolinians sick."

TVA disputes the claims. (N&O)

U.S. District Court Judge Bob Conrad's nomination to the U.S. Appeals Court was a bit of a surprise, reports the Char-O's Lisa Zagaroli.

Conrad was told in May that he was no longer a candidate for a seat on the federal appeals court based in Richmond, Va.

President Bush nominated Conrad on Tuesday. 

U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole quickly applauded the decision by President Bush to nominated Robert J. Conrad to the U.S Court of Appeals.

“Bob Conrad has had a remarkable legal career, establishing an impressive record of public service as a prosecutor and district court judge,” Dole, a Salisbury Republican, said in a statement.

President Bush has nominated Robert J. Conrad, a U.S. District Court judge in Charlotte, to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit.

U.S. Sen. Richard Burr immediately hailed the nomination as a chance to add another judge from North Carolina to the Court of Appeals. Of the 15 seats on the court, only one is now filled by a judge from North Carolina, Burr said.

The court hears appeals from cases filed in North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia and Maryland.

"North Carolina can be proud of Bob's record as a judge and his integrity," Burr, a Winston-Salem Republican, said in a statement.

Conrad was the U.S. attorney for the western district of North Carolina from 2001-03.