These new regulations could close a major portion of the plants and put more strain on existing power plants, refineries. Not saying cleaning up the environment is not correct however, at what cost. Perhaps incentives can come into play to help these companies comply vs going out of business.
January 15, 2001
To Fight Haze, EPA Proposes Regulation
That May Clamp Down on Power Plants
By JOHN J. FIALKA
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
WASHINGTON -- Taking aim at the haze that obscures views in many
national parks, the Clinton administration proposed air-pollution rules that
could clamp down on hundreds of coal-fired power plants and other
industrial facilities.
The Environmental Protection Agency's sweeping proposal is designed to
reduce the growing haze problem that limits visibility in the Grand Canyon,
the Great Smoky Mountains and other national parks. It is part of a
regulatory blitz by the Clinton administration in its final days, and could be
overturned by President-elect George W. Bush's administration.
If the rule stands, it would require states to limit emissions from older
power plants and petroleum refineries, chemical plants and steel and paper
mills. Many of these facilities have been exempt or "grandfathered" from
controls imposed by the Clean Air Act starting in 1977.
According to the EPA, the guidelines will show which facilities are subject
to the controls. The intention is to reduce emissions of sulfur dioxide and
nitrogen oxides.
Phil Clapp, president of the National Environmental Trust, a
Washington-based environmental group, called it "the most significant step
in decades toward cleaning up the air in our national parks" by cutting
emissions by "millions of tons each year."
John Kinsman, an atmospheric-science expert for the Edison Electric
Institute, which represents privately owned power plants, called it "a major
move. This is going to affect a lot of plants." Just how many plants and
industrial facilities would be affected, he said, is uncertain, but he noted that
the EPA said power plants covered by the proposal emitted more than six
million tons of carbon dioxide in 1999. That is about half the pollution
emitted by some 1,000 coal-fired plants in the U.S., according to EEI.
The proposal expands on a 1999 EPA program that called for gradually
removing haze from parks during the next 65 years. In the East, for
example, summertime visibility has dropped to 12 miles from 90 miles.
In western parks, the visibility has shrunk to 35 miles from 140 miles.
Industrial haze, which can drift for hundreds of miles, consists largely of
tiny particles that absorb and scatter sunlight.
Industries and others that would be affected by the change have 60 days to
comment on the proposal, which would add a layer of controls on top of
rules to combat acid rain.
If the EPA makes it a rule, states must identify plants by 2004, and then
controls representing "the best available technology" must be installed
within five years.
Currently, such technology consists of "scrubbers," devices that trap
pollutants in power-plant stacks. According to the power industry, these
can cost as much as $100 million per plant.
Write to John J. Fialka at john.fialka@wsj.com |
