Bush administration plans to ease utility emissions
Date: 25-Nov-02
Country: USA
Author: Chris Baltimore
The Environmental Protection Agency defended its new rules as giving companies more flexibility to cut emissions, according to agency documents obtained by Reuters.
The EPA was scheduled to release its plan for so-called "new source review" rules later last week after briefing U.S. lawmakers.
Existing rules require U.S. utilities and refineries to invest in state-of-the-art pollution controls if a plant undergoes a major expansion or modification. The issue is hugely important to aging utilities that could face hundreds of millions of dollars in new investments.
The complicated EPA plan involved finalizing some rules and proposing others.
Most attention was focused on the proposed rules, which would change the definition of "routine maintenance, repair and replacement" to give utilities more flexibility to modify their plants without triggering more pollution-reduction requirements, according to the EPA documents.
They would also give utilities a plant-specific annual allowance for making repairs and replacements. Modifications made that fit below the allotted cost ceiling will not trigger more stringent regulations, according to a draft news release prepared by the EPA.
The proposed rules also allow utilities to replace aging equipment with their "functional equivalent new equipment" without triggering regulations, the EPA release said.
In both cases, actions must be made to "promote the safe, reliable and efficient operation of the source," the EPA said.
The proposed rules will not take effect until the EPA has collected and analyzed feedback from utilities, green groups, and others.
EPA Administrator Christine Todd Whitman said in the draft statement that the actions would encourage emission cuts.
"Some aspects of the (new source review) program have deterred companies from implementing projects that would increase energy efficiency and decrease air pollution," Whitman said.
The final rules were roundly criticized by environmental groups and Democratic lawmakers on one side, and utility officials on the other. Green groups complained that the agency action rolls back federal Clean Air Act protections, while the industry contends they do not go far enough.
"It is difficult to imagine a more aggressive assault on our clean air protections," said Rebecca Stanfield at the Public Interest Research Group.
The Electric Reliability Coordinating Council, which represents large utilities, criticized the rules as incomplete.
"We believe that EPA has left some unfinished business on the table by failing to be more definitive on maintenance," said Scott Segal, an attorney for the group.
The EPA also finalized other rules that give power plants and refineries exemptions from regulations if their emissions fall below a set cap.
The final rules also allow plants to qualify for clean unit status if they install new equipment, exempting them from more regulations.
