CLIMATE: Lieberman-Warner boosters tout bill's pollution 'co-benefits' (10/31/2007)
Darren Samuelsohn, Greenwire senior reporter
Global warming legislation expected to be approved by a Senate subcommittee tomorrow would also force significant air pollution cuts beyond current law for coal-fired power plants -- reducing emissions of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and mercury, according to an environmental group's modeling.
The bill's sponsors, Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and John Warner (R-Va.), are touting the Clean Air Task Force's analysis to show their bill generates "massive co-benefits" that could save tens of thousands of American lives every year and also reduce asthma attacks.
Modeling from the Clean Air Task Force shows the Lieberman-Warner climate bill also could lead power plants in the country to reduce their emissions of nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide and mercury. Click on chart for larger version.
But the advocacy group's study isn't a complete slam dunk for the Lieberman-Warner camp. Two competing bills from Sens. Tom Carper (D-Del.) and Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), respectively, which focus only on electric utilities, would guarantee similar air pollution reductions from power plants nearly 15 years sooner.
The Boston-based Clean Air Task Force studied the Lieberman-Warner legislation for a wide range of benefits, including its potential effects on the U.S. economy, coal use and natural gas prices. Jonathan Banks, climate policy coordinator for the group, said he didn't discover the air pollution co-benefits until well after he had received the initial modeling runs.
Banks said the Lieberman-Warner legislation should achieve the air pollution reductions because of a provision that promotes the deployment of new power plants capable of capturing their heat-trapping carbon dioxide and storing it underground. The same technologies that capture the CO2 from a power plant also lead to cuts in the more traditional air pollutants.
The group says Lieberman-Warner by 2030 would reduce SO2 by 92 percent, NOx by 83 percent and mercury by 82 percent. That compares with U.S. EPA rules put in place during the Bush administration that would force SO2 cuts of 64 percent, NOx cuts of 40 percent and mercury reductions of 70 percent.
No guarantees
The Clean Air Task Force report sparked a dispute with Carper's office.
In an interview yesterday, Carper said he still planned to offer an amendment during a full Senate Environment and Public Works Committee markup of the Lieberman-Warner bill that would put his proposed emission cuts for power plants into law.
Bette Phelan, a Carper spokeswoman, issued a statement today saying the Clean Air Task Force data also help make Carper's case. "It's not a surprise that a CO2-only bill would show some progress in these pollutants, but the study demonstrates that we still aren't where we need to be, particularly when it comes to mercury," she said.
Click on chart for larger version.
Indeed, the Clean Air Task Force data back up Phelan's point. Under Carper's bill, mercury emissions would fall 90 percent in 2015 from the current level of nearly 52 tons down to 5 tons. By contrast, the Clean Air Task Force data show the Lieberman-Warner bill would reduce mercury emissions to 30 tons in 2015.
Carper’s proposal also would force sharper cuts from power plants in 2015: 82 percent for SO2 and 68 percent for NOx.
Banks explained that his group's study of the Lieberman-Warner bill should not sidetrack other senators. "I don't think it undermines Carper's or Alexander's efforts to get reductions of these pollutants," he said. "What it does is show there's room for them to work together."
The Lieberman-Warner bill doesn't promise the emission cuts -- it is after all only modelling data, Banks said. He added, "You'll need to put some language in the bill to guarantee they happen in some form or fashion."
A Senate Environment and Public Works subcommittee is scheduled to markup the Lieberman-Warner bill tomorrow. But neither Carper nor Alexander sit on that panel. Instead, they are likely to wait until the full committee markup expected before early December.
Click here for the Lieberman-Warner memo on air pollution co-benefits.
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