The U.S. Conference of Mayors Clean Air Program
UPDATE: Multi-Pollution Proposals
On February 14th the President announced his plan, the "Clear Skies Initiative," to reduce emissions of three pollutants from power plants: nitrous oxides (NOx), sulfur dioxide (SO2), and mercury. These emissions are a significant problem: NOx, for example, is the cause of up to a third of ozone pollution in cities. And SO2 is largely responsible for the acid rain problem in the Northeast, while mercury emissions can have serious long-term health and developmental impacts on children - even in tiny doses.
Since the 1970 Clean Air Act, a wide range regulatory of requirements for power plants have resulted in much cleaner air. At the same time, however, peer-reviewed health research over the years has shown not only that common air pollutants are more harmful than were previously believed, but that the pollutants are harmful at much lower levels. In addition, new emissions have accompanied the increases in energy use and production over the past decades - the result is that emissions from power plants are still a serious problem.
The most popular approach to address this problem is a market-based emissions trading system. Such a system would place a nationwide cap on the amount of NOx, SO2, and mercury that could be emitted from the electric utility sector. Permits to emit the pollution would then be distributed to utilities. As under the current SO2 permit trading program, utilities could then choose to reduce emissions, thereby generating excess permits that could be sold or traded to utilities who need more permits - or they could buy extra permits from others instead of reducing their own emissions. The decision to either buy or sell permits would be made by each individual utility, based on the most economical choice for that source.
This kind of "cap-and-trade" system is popular because the current SO2 permit trading program has proved that these systems are a cost-effective way to reduce pollution. Supporters of permit trading systems include environmental and public health advocates, utility and industry groups, as well as the American Public Power Association that represents municipal-owned electric utilities.
At least five cap-and-trade bills have been introduced in Congress. However, those bills have not gone very far, in part because those on Capitol Hill were waiting to see the President's proposal for a multi-pollutant bill - as well as his plan to address global climate change. In anticipation of the release of the Administration's multi-pollutant proposal, environmental and public health advocates were hopeful that the President would call for emissions caps that would dramatically reduce the number of communities that would otherwise face new regulation under the new "8-hour" ozone standards that will be implemented over the next few years.
As example of potential benefits under a strong multi-pollutant law, EPA, prior to the President's announcement, modeled the results of a "strawman proposal," one possible scenario for an emissions trading system. That scenario - based on a cap of 1.25 million tons for NOx, 2 million tons for SO2, and 7.5 tons for mercury, all by 2012 - was compared to a "business-as-usual" scenario. The results showed that the multi-pollutant approach would be more effective and less costly than what is expected to happen under current law.
The final Administration proposal under the President's Clear Skies Initiative is based on a cap of 1.7 million tons of NOx, 3 million tons for SO2, and 15 tons for mercury, all by 2018. While the Bush plan would reduce emissions of NOx by 67%, SO2 by 73%, and mercury by 69% (compared to today's emission levels), many health experts question whether those reductions are enough to adequately address public health and quality of life concerns.
In addition, the President and EPA officials have suggested that a permit trading system could be so effective that a number of current regulatory programs that affect power generation might no longer be needed and could be phased out. The possibility of reform of one such program, New Source Review (NSR), has been discussed by various groups for several years. However, environmental and public health advocates are skeptical of such reforms, concerned that the result could degrade air quality. The Administration is expected to release a proposal for NSR reform within the next few weeks.
The President's climate change proposal, also announced on February 14th, has been greeted with mixed reviews.
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