ENVIRONMENT

Exchange Gets OK to Handle Smog Futures: Federal regulators at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission gave the go-ahead for the Chicago Board of Trade to begin trading futures contracts linked to air pollution emission allowances. The market in sulfur dioxide emission allowances is an outgrowth of the Bush Administration’s plan to let free market forces reduce acid rain coming from electric utilities, as part of recent changes in the Clean Air Act. The Environmental Protection Agency has yet to decide which exchange will conduct the annual auction of permits that is part of the Administration’s plan.