EPA tells states to cut smog, aid northeast

Story by Patrick Connole
USA: December 20, 1999
                                                       
WASHINGTON - In an unprecedented ruling, U.S. regulators ordered industrial plants and electric utilities in 12 states and the District of Columbia to cut smog-causing emissions that are blown into four northeastern states.
                                                       
The action by the Environmental Protection Agency is the latest in a series of attempts to crack down on industrial air pollution that has been linked to asthma and other diseases.                       

EPA Administrator Carol Browner ordered 392 plants and facilities to cut their nitrogen oxide (NOX) emissions by May 1, 2003. To help the plants make the reductions, the EPA also said it would establish an emissions trading programme.

The EPA said targeted plants must cut NOX by more than 500,000 tons a year, cleaning the air for 18 states from Maine to North Carolina, and Connecticut to Indiana.
                                                   
EPA said the programme would cost all 392 utilities and industrial facilities combined a total of $950 million per year for 20 years to meet the emissions reductions targets, starting in 2003.
                                                         
The agency said the plants would need to purchase selective catalytic reducers - machinery which converts nitrogen oxide into nitrogen and water, limiting pollution - or buy allowances in the trading programme.                               
                                                          
The agency took the action after four northeastern states - Connecticut, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and New York - said they could not meet EPA's smog standard because of dirty air blowing from other states.
                                                     
"Today's action means healthier air for communities located near these polluting plants," Browner said. "It will also provide public health protection for communities hundreds of miles away where air pollution is carried by the wind."

Some of the 392 facilities were sued by the government in a separate lawsuit last month for breaking other clean air laws.     
                                                        
Utilities and plants affected by the new emissions cuts are in Delaware, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, North Carolina, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia and the District of Columbia.           
                                                        
Smog can cause lung damage and other breathing disorders, and can also trigger asthma attacks, the EPA said.
                                                       
"In one 15-year period, asthma rates for all Americans jumped by 75 percent, affecting 15 million Americans. The medical costs associated with it are expected to hit $14.5 billion next year," Browner said.

Environmental groups cheered the EPA crackdown on smog-generaters.              
                                                    
Frank O'Donnell, executive director of Clean Air Trust, said the move was a "positive step forward" for healthier air, and welcomed the use of the Clean Air Act petition clause.                          
                                                          
A small number of plants could be added to those targeted for pollution sources, based on petitions from Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey and the District of Columbia for smog blowing into their boundaries, the EPA said.                                  
                                                    
EPA said it decided to take the action after a broad 22-state transport pollution rule was entangled in the courts.
                                                     
In May, a federal appeals court delayed indefinitely an EPA attempt to make 22 states curb smog from drifting across state lines. The ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia gave a victory to coal-burning electric utilities and several Midwest states which opposed the new regulations.                       
                                                         
EPA has been repeatedly challenged in court during the past year over its efforts to curtail air pollution.                    
                                                       
In May month alone, the same federal appeals court delayed the 22-state transport rule, and separately struck down a tougher national anti-pollution effort.

The court threw out EPA's plan to tighten national pollution standards, saying the section of law EPA relied on in coming up with the rules amounted to an "unconstitutional delegation of legislative power."

EPA is appealing the ruling.

Just last month, the Justice Department on EPA's behalf sued seven major utilities for modifying power plant operations without installing state-of-the art equipment. The government also took the unusual step of filing an administrative order against the federally-owned Tennessee Valley Authority.

The utilities named in the lawsuit have denied any wrongdoing. Companies sued were Cinergy , American Electric Power , FirstEnergy Corp , Illinova Corp , Southern Co , TECO Energy Inc and Southern Indiana Gas and Electric Co.

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