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Protecting the Nation From Air Pollution cont'd
On May 30, 2002, the American Lung Association and eight environmental groups began the legal process that ended with an agreement with EPA on November 13, 2002. Finally work can begin. On April 15, 2004, EPA designated its first nonattainment areas for ozone. This step was a direct result of the legal action that the American Lung Association took. EPA has also announced plans to finally designate nonattainment areas for particle pollution by December 2004.
| HOW YOU CAN HELP CLEAN UP THE AIR
To fight back and help really clean up dirty power plants, we can use the tools we already have in place in the Clean Air Act. The American Lung Association urges Americans to contact members of Congress to let them know that you oppose any power plant legislation that does not maintain the protections in the Clean Air Act. Be clear; tell them you want power plants cleaned up now, and the Administration's Clear Skies initiative is too little, too late. |
Setting standards is not easy. It requires thoughtful and knowledgeable review of the science. However, the most important part is to enforce those standards. Cleaning up ozone and particle pollution is a long process, since many things must change to make it work. As it stands, the states will not have to submit their plans for cleaning up the air until 2007, ten years after the standards were established. Until then, we remain stuck under a cloud of weaker standards that EPA has been using since 1979.
 THE PROBLEM WITH POWER PLANTS
Old coal-fired power plants have become the some of the biggest industrial contributors to our unhealthful air, especially to the level of particle pollution in the eastern United States. The toll of death, disease and environmental destruction caused by coal-fired power plant pollution continues to mount. A study by Abt Associates released in 2000 attributed 30,000 premature deaths annually to power plant pollution.6
Since 1970, the Clean Air Act has not required the oldest, dirtiest coal-burning power plants to comply with new emissions standards. This loophole in the Clean Air Act allows power companies to keep using these older facilities with outdated pollution controls.
When "Clear Skies" Doesn't Bring Clear Skies.
An Administration proposal, introduced as the Clear Skies Initiative (S. 485/HR 999), purports to cut pollution from power plants but will be less protective than the Clean Air Act, delaying and reducing cuts in sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and mercury pollution. Introduced by Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK) and Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX), the Administration plan would roll back existing requirements, while permitting more pollution to continue for decades longer. Specific evidence that the Administration proposal sanctions more pollution than current requirements of the Clean Air Act are found in comparing the two, using EPA's own internal assessments: 7
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The Administration plan allows more than one and a half times as much NOx for nearly a decade longer (2010-2018), and one third more nitrogen oxides (NOx) even after 2018.
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The Administration plan allows more than twice as much sulfur dioxide (SO 2 ) for nearly a decade longer (2010-2018), compared with faithful enforcement of the current Clean Air Act. After 2018, SO2 emissions will still be one and a half times higher than if current law is enforced.
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The Administration plan lets power plants emit more than five times as much mercury for a decade longer (2010-2018) and three times as much after 2018.
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The full pollution reductions are likely to be further delayed, to as late as 2025, because of emissions "banking" provisions.
The Administration plan also repeals key provisions of the Clean Air Act:
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No longer would local governments be able to require state-of-the-art pollution controls in new plants of any type or in any older plants that were increasing their pollution when they rebuild or expand their facilities.
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No longer could states located downwind of other states and suffering from the pollution created by power plants in those states take legal action to protect their citizens. Under the Clean Air Act, states can take legal action to effectively require those plants to reduce pollution. Revoking that provision would remove the chief tool the Northeast states used effectively to tackle pollution from Midwest and southern power plants.
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Even the national parks and wilderness areas would be threatened by more pollution under the Administration proposal. It would repeal clean up requirements for existing sources, while weakening Clean Air Act safeguards built in for these protected lands.
Protecting the Nation from Air Pollution continued... |
