Approaches to Power Plant Air Polution

SO₂: EPA calculates that if the Clean Air Act continues to operate as it is written today, this Abusiness as usual@ scenario will reduce SO₂ pollution from power plants from today=s 11 million tons to 2 million tons by 2012. Incredibly, rather than cleaning up dirty grandfathered power plants beyond what the Clean Air Act would already achieve, today=s administration announcement actually proposes to roll back the Clean Air Act to allow 50% more SO₂ pollution for 50% longer. The administration approach would allow higher pollution levels (3 million tons) than what the Clean Air Act will deliver today (2 million tons), and the administration approach would delay this weaker result until 2018, when the Act today would reach 2 million tons by 2012. The 2018 date for SO₂ reductions means tens of thousands more avoidable premature deaths from fine particle exposures compared to what the current Clean Air Act would allow, and even more premature deaths compared to the Jeffords-Lieberman bill (the Clean Power Act) that would achieve cleanup by 2007.

Mercury: EPA calculates that if the Clean Air Act continues to operate as it is written today, this Abusiness as usual@ scenario will reduce mercury pollution from power plants from today=s 94,000 pounds to 28,000 pounds by 2008. Environmentalists are more confident in the state of American technology and believe mercury pollution can be reduced to 9,400 pounds by 2008 under current law. Incredibly, rather than cleaning up dirty grandfathered power plants beyond what the Clean Air Act would already achieve, today=s administration announcement actually proposes to roll back the Clean Air Act to allow dramatically higher levels of mercury pollution, and allows clean-up to be avoided for 10 years longer than the current Clean Air Act mandates. The administration approach would allow higher mercury pollution levels (36,000 pounds) than what the Clean Air Act will deliver today (from 9,400 to 28,000 pounds), and the administration approach would even delay this weaker result until 2018, when the Act today requires clean-up by 2008.