“Today we’re taking an important step forward to protect the health of millions of Americans,” Jackson said in an address at the agency’s headquarters. She repeated the EPA’s position that controlling pollution prevents thousands of premature deaths as well as childhood asthma.
According to a report by the Congressional Research Service, coal-fired power plants are among the nation’s greatest sources of stationary pollution. In 2005, they accounted for 70 percent of emissions of sulfur dioxide, nearly half of the mercury and 20 percent of the nitrogen oxide.
Jackson estimated that the regulation would cost industry $10 billion by 2015, but said the health and environmental improvements would be worth more than $100 billion a year. She said electric bills would increase by $3 to $4 a month once the rule was fully implemented.
Reflecting the anticipated congressional battle, Sen. James M. Inhofe (R-Okla.), a frequent critic of the EPA, responded by introducing legislation that calls for a formal review of the agency’s regulations.
“EPA’s proposed utility [rule] today could, by itself, shut down up to 20 percent of America’s coal-fired power capacity,” he said. “When you add in all of the rules and regulations from EPA’s cap-and-trade agenda, the outlook for jobs and economic growth looks dire.”
Organizations that represent power plants seized on the projected cost of the cleaning equipment, which some say would exceed $10 billion, to denounce the standards. Scott Segal, director of the Electric Reliability Coordinating Council, called the proposal “one of the most expensive rules in the history of the agency.”
Segal said that the projected price tag does not include indirect costs and that the EPA did not take into account other recent rules for reducing greenhouse gases that could cause costs to overlap. The agency has adopted or plans to adopt numerous rules with compliance deadlines of 2015, he said, causing the industry to “face perhaps its costliest and most pressing challenge.”
In a statement, Segal cited an IHS/Global Insight report estimating that every $1 billion spent to comply with pollution standards will put 16,000 jobs at risk and reduce the nation’s gross domestic product by up to $1.2 billion.
A similar finding — in a report issued by the Council of Industrial Boiler Owners following EPA rules to reduce emissions of mercury from boilers — was challenged by the Congressional Research Service.
Loading...
Comments