Air Quality and Electricity: Initiatives to Increase Pollution Controls

Publication Date: October 2002

Publisher: Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service

Author(s):

Research Area: Environment

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Abstract:

Since the mid-1990s, EPA has initiated actions resulting in regulatory mandates and enforcement actions directed primarily at coal-fired electric generating utilities. These actions would, if implemented, substantially reduce air pollutants, particularly nitrogen oxides (NOx). These initiatives include the Ozone Transport Rule (also called the NOx SIP Call); a set of "Section 126 petitions" in which 12 states allege under Section 126 of the Clean Air Act (CAA) that pollutants originating in upwind states prevent their attainment of clean air standards; and a set of enforcement actions based on New Source Review (NSR) requirements of the CAA that have resulted in lawsuits against several utilities and an administrative order against the Tennessee Valley Authority. While these are separate initiatives, they are related in that each ultimately focuses on emissions from utilities in the Midwest and South.

As of January 22, 2001, the EPA has declared 11 states and the District of Columbia as failing to submit revised SIPs required under the Ozone Transport Rule; the EPA has approved four section 126 petitions; and two of the NSR lawsuits have resulted in consent decrees (Tampa Electric Co. and PSEG), and two others have been settled in principle (Virginia Power and Cinergy). In June 2002, the Bush Administration recommended new rulemaking be commenced on the definition of "routine maintenance": a key point of contention in the lawsuits. Legislative activity focuses on multi-pollutant strategies as an alternative to these piecemeal initiatives. In June 2002, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee reported out S. 556 ­ a comprehensive, multi-pollutant reduction bill. This report will be updated as events warrant.