A good move to clear the air
Coal smoke and steam vapor pour out of the Bruce Mansfield Power Plant over a nearby residential area in Shippingport, Pennsylvania (Sept. 11, 2008). Credit: GETTY IMAGES
A sensible new rule from the Environmental Protection Agency would go a long way toward making sure that emissions from power plants in one state don't create smog -- and kill lakes -- in states downwind.
States have tried to curb pollution, but couldn't control what was wafting in from across their borders. So they asked the EPA to step in, using its Clean Air Act powers. The agency in 2005 published the clean air interstate rule, a key environmental initiative of the George W. Bush administration.
In 2008, the District of Columbia federal appeals court struck down the rule, then decided to allow it to remain in place until a stronger new one could be developed. Last week, the EPA rolled out its answer: a new cross-state air pollution rule.
It covers emissions from power plants in 27 states in the eastern half of the country, including New York. By 2014, the emissions controls under the rule, such as scrubbers, would cut sulfur dioxide by 73 percent and nitrogen oxide by 54 percent. That will reduce smog and soot, which aggravate illnesses such as asthma, and reduce the acid rain degrading lakes upstate.
The EPA estimates the annual compliance cost at $800 million, plus $1.6 billion a year in capital spending under the old rule. Compliance would cost the average electric customer less than $1 a month more. The annual benefit could be $280 billion, mostly in avoided health costs.
That outstanding return on investment should make us all breathe easier.
