EMISSIONS SOLUTIONS GUIDE
August 2008
CAIR Is Vacated – Will CAPA Replace It?
In a July 11, ruling the District of Columbia U.S. Court of Appeals vacated the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR). The court found that CAIR was formed outside of EPA’s legislated authority under the Clean Air Act (CAA). CAIR is a 2005 rule created to reduce power plant emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides.
CAIR covered emissions in 28 states east of the Mississippi River – and the District of Columbia – and targeted pollution that blows eastward from coal-fired Midwestern power plants. The court agreed with the arguments (primarily from Duke Energy) that in requiring greater pollution restrictions than those outlined in the1990 Clean Air ACT, EPA had usurped congressional authority.
After the ruling Sen. Tom Carper, (D-Del) chairman of the Senate Clean Air and Nuclear Safety Subcommittee issued a press release detailing the Clean Air Planning Act. (CAPA). Carper held a subcommittee hearing July 29 to explore the implications of the CAIR rule and to advance the need for the broader CAPA bill. Carper says CAPA improves CAIR in three ways:
CAPA provides congressional legislation that gets air pollution control out of the courts and ensures clean air actions are taken on schedule.
CAIR only covered the eastern U.S. Now Congress can write CAPA legislation that covers the whole country.
CAIR only addressed SO2 and NOx, but CAPA can address more pollutants.
DC Circuit Court Reverses Bush Administration Clean Air Act Rollback
On August 19, in Sierra Club vs. Environmental Protection Agency, the DC Circuit Court today struck down a Bush administration rule limiting states’ ability to enforce the Clean Air Act.
The Bush administration rule had blocked states from issuing their own air monitoring requirements for soot, smog, mercury and other types of air pollution from power plants, factories and other stationary sources. As a result states were forced to abide by the lax federal standards, which required lesser monitoring of air pollution.
Sierra Club Executive Director Carl Pope says the following about the ruling, "This is huge victory against one of the most egregious rollbacks of environmental protections in our nation’s history. “
California Orders World’s Strictest Diesel Regulation On Blue Water Ships
On July 24th the California Air Resources Board adopted a regulation requiring ocean-going vessels within 24 nautical miles of California's coastline to use lower-sulfur marine distillates in their main and auxiliary engines and auxiliary boilers, rather than the dirtier heavy-fuel oil called bunker fuel. The rule would require switching to a fuel with 97% less sulfur.
The regulation will be implemented in two steps, each requiring lower sulfur content in the fuel. The first step is in 2009. The final step is in 2012. Both U.S.-flagged and foreign-flagged vessels are subject to the regulation which is the most stringent and comprehensive requirement for marine fuel-use in the world. Ships typically burn fuel with a sulfur content of 3.5 percent; under the California rule, that would be cut to 0.5 percent in 2009 and 0.1 percent in 2012.
In 2009 about a 75% percent of the diesel PM, over 80% of the sulfur oxides and 6 percent of the nitrogen oxides will be eliminated. In 2012, when the very low sulfur fuel requirement is implemented, reductions of diesel particulate matter will be 15 tons daily, an 83 percent reduction compared to uncontrolled emissions. Sulfur oxides will be reduced by 140 tons daily, a 95 percent reduction and nitrogen oxides will be reduced by 11 tons per day, a 6 percent reduction.
EPA Approves DFW Clean Air Plan
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has given preliminary approval to a plan to bring air quality in the Dallas-Fort Worth area into compliance with federal standards by 2010. The Dallas-Fort Worth area currently does not meet the federal air quality standard for ozone, which is a harmful air pollutant.
The clear air plan is the first in the country proposed for EPA approval, the agency said. Under the proposed plan, ozone forming pollutants will be reduced by 88 tons per day - about 40 tons more than the plan had first proposed. The plan will improve air quality by more than 55 percent over 1999 levels and, in combination with previous plans, is reducing ozone pollution by 409 tons per day.
The Dallas-Fort Worth clean air plan, referred to as the State Implementation Plan (SIP), will be published in the Federal Register for public review and comment. EPA's proposed approval is conditional. Texas must finalize regulations to formally reduce the amount of discrete emission credits available in the nine county non-attainment area.
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