HOUSTON, Dec. 27 (UPI) -- U.S. space officials said they will modify a fuel sensor system on the space shuttle Atlantis to correct false readings.

Problems with the fuel sensor system postponed planned launches on Dec. 6 and Dec. 9, NASA said Thursday in a release.

The agency said testing and analysis indicate that false readings from the engine cutoff sensor system occur in a three part feed-through connector that passes electric signals from sensors in the external fuel tank to shuttle electronics outside the tank.

Technicians will remove portions of the connector and redesign the interface by soldering the pins to sockets at the external-to-feed-through side of the connector prior to installing the replacement into the external tank.

It was not known how long it would take to complete the modifications and reapply foam to the shuttle's external tank, NASA said.

Clean coal plants mired by cost and delays

WASHINGTON, Dec. 27 (UPI) -- Clean coal-fired plants offer a cleaner fuel source but construction costs and increased greenhouse gas standards in the United States hamper their production.

Regulators canceled, suspended or refused several plans to develop clean coal-fired plants, citing construction costs, technological pitfalls and regulation regarding greenhouse gas emissions, USA Today said Thursday.

Clean coal-fired plants cost 20 percent more to build than standard plants but long-term expenses are 20 percent less than those of standard plants, Ed Rubin, an environmental engineering scientist with Carnegie Mellon University, told the newspaper.

Only two clean coal-fired plants operate in the United States but that number may increase because the newer plants are more readily retrofitted to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, the report said.

American Electric Power (NYSE:AEP), a utility based in Ohio, is proposing two new clean coal-fired plants in Ohio and West Virginia.

"I think it's essential that we as a nation take advantage of one of the indigenous fuel sources we have," said Michael Morris with AEP.

Beef patties recalled in New Jersey

WASHINGTON, Dec. 27 (UPI) -- The U.S. Department of Agriculture said the Maramont Corp. has recalled 88 pounds of ground beef that may be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes.

The agency's Food Safety and Inspection Service said the recall involves 2-ounce individual packages labeled "Broiled Beef Patty (Microwave)" produced on Dec. 18 and distributed on Dec. 19 to schools in the Jersey City, N.J., area.

The products were delivered in cases bearing a lot code of "07352" and product number "2801." Each case label also bears the establishment number "EST. 5370" inside the Department of Agriculture mark of inspection.

The problem was discovered through routine FSIS testing, the agency said in a release. FSIS said it has received no reports of illnesses associated with consumption of this product.

EPA plan to cut mercury levels in fish

BOSTON, Dec. 27 (UPI) -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has approved a plan to reduce mercury levels in fish throughout New England and New York.

The EPA said the plan calls for a 98 percent reduction from 1998 levels of mercury from atmospheric sources. The goal is make mercury levels in fish low enough for the states to lift fish consumption advisories.

The plan was created through a "high level of collaboration with the Northeast states of Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont, and the New England Interstate Water Pollution Control Commission," the agency said Thursday in a release.

To establish the mercury reduction targets, each state analyzed fish tissue, evaluated information on atmospheric sources of mercury and estimated the level of reduction needed to meet the target levels in fish, the EPA said.