EPA tells old coal power plants to upgrade pollution controls
A new rule aims to reduce emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide around and downwind of old coal-fired power plants east of the Mississippi, in keeping with an Obama campaign promise.
By Michael Hawthorne
Chicago Tribune
In a move that portends cleaner air in communities east of the Mississippi River, the Obama administration cracked down Tuesday on smog- and soot-forming pollution from coal-fired power plants in 31 states and the District of Columbia.
The proposed rule, which follows through on one of President Obama's campaign promises, renews an attempt by the Environmental Protection Agency to reduce pollution in areas around coal plants and in states downwind where air quality is hampered by sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions.
Combined with other state and federal regulations, the rule will reduce sulfur dioxide emissions from 2005 levels by 71% by 2014, the EPA said. Nitrogen oxide emissions would drop by 52%.
The rule requires aging coal-fired power plants — many of which were built in the 1940s and '50s — to be upgraded with modern pollution controls. Scrubbers will need to be installed on more plants to cut back on sulfur dioxide emissions, and equipment known as selective catalytic reduction will be required to curb nitrogen oxides.
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States will be allowed to engage in limited trading of pollution credits as long as each stays below a set emissions limit.
Coal plants are major sources of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides, which combine in the atmosphere to form lung-damaging smog and the fine particles commonly known as soot. The rule is expected to cost $2.8 billion a year but promises greater benefits from fewer emergency room visits and early deaths.
"This rule is designed to cut pollution that spreads hundreds of miles and has enormous negative impacts on millions of Americans," EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson said in a statement. "We're working to limit pollution at its source, rather than waiting for it to move across the country."
The George W. Bush administration proposed a similar action, known as the Clean Air Interstate Rule. But in 2008, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia decided the EPA had overstepped its authority and ordered the agency to revise the rule.
As a result, many power companies scaled back their investments in pollution controls. Now those companies will have to decide whether it is more cost-effective to retrofit their dirtiest power plants or shut them down.
mhawthorne@tribune.com
Source: Chicago Tribune
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