EPA may ease rule on Power Plants
Texas Insider Report: WASHINGTON D.C. The EPA Rule in question affects some 1000 power plants requiring them to cut emissions between 54 and 73.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry a 2012 Republican presidential candidate has said the rule threatens Texas jobs & families.
It also has drawn fire because the EPA applied it to Texas which wasnt even included in the original Rule Proposal.
But with reductions set to begin in January and compliance by 2014 the Environmental Protection Agency is under pressure from some states industry and Congress and is expected to ease an air quality rule affecting 27 states said people familiar with the matter.
The EPA which made the rule final in July plans to propose as early as this week to allow certain states and companies to emit more pollutants than it previously permitted these people said.
The move comes amid a backlash over the rule which the EPA has said will protect public health and prevent up to 34000 premature deaths. Critics contend it will cost jobs increase power costs and threaten electric reliability.
The EPA changes are expected to provide relief only to certain states and companies. The proposal will allow for emissions increases ranging from 1 to 4 above the July requirement depending on the pollutant said the people familiar with the rule.
The Cross-State Air Pollution Rule is intended to reduce smog-forming
chemicals emitted from power plants that often drift into other states. The pollutants can cause heart attacks and respiratory illnesses.
Lawyers for companies affected by the rule said they didnt expect the change to completely satisfy industry concerns. Several companies have said they would close operations to comply including Texass largest power generator Luminant. Luminant said it would idle two generating units.
EPA has done big rules before but they always give the regulated companies enough time to actually comply said Jeffrey Holmstead a partner with law firm Bracewell & Giuliani who was an EPA official in the George W. Bush administration.
To comply power companies are expected to install new pollution controls or switch from coal to cleaner-burning natural gas. Holmstead said changes to the EPAs Rule were needed because it required steep reductions too quickly.
Some states have attacked the rule and sued the EPA saying the regulations are unnecessary and dangerous. Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt who sued the EPA in September has said it will be physically impossible for all of our utilities to comply and that Kansans will face higher electricity costs or reduced power capacity.
Republicans in Congress have moved to block the rule from going into effect.
Gina McCarthy the EPAs assistant administrator for air and radiation told lawmakers last month that without the rule Texas power plants would contribute significantly to air pollution in downwind states ... unfairly imposing tremendous health costs on thousands of American families.
The Obama Administrations EPA spokesman Brendan Gilfillan said While we dont have anything to announce at this time EPA often makes technical adjustments ... because
data including data in some cases provided by industry turns out to be incorrect outdated or incomplete.
Environmental groups said they werent opposed to changes as long as the EPA reduces overall emissions levels.
So long as any proposed changes follow the law and facts revising the clean air standards could be acceptable. But cleaning up dirty power plants remains the most cost-effective way to reduce the terrible toll of smog and soot pollution said John Walke clean air director with the
Natural Resources Defense Council.
