Rules to Repair the Air

Air pollution causes thousands of American illnesses annually and damages the environment with acid rain, smog and soot. Two of the main culprits are sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides. These air pollutants, emitted from the coal, gas, and oil-fired machinery of power plants, travel across the east of the United States, to cover about 31 states and the District of Columbia.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has proposed new regulations that will seek to reduce the emissions of sulfur dioxide by 71%, and nitrogen oxides by 52%, down from 2005 levels. This policy is an addition and improvement to the 2005 Clean Air Interstate Rule, since the U.S. Court of Appeals ordered the EPA to revise the Rule in 2008. The new effort, named the Transport Rule, will implement regulations that should decrease these pollutants by hundreds of thousands of tons a year, providing environmental, health, and economic benefits in the process.

In direct AIMbitious correspondence with Tim Smith of the EPA, he stated, “This proposed regulation addresses interstate transport of ozone and fine particulates, our term for ‘soot.’ For that purpose, we looked at sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions, because those are the pollutants associated with the formation of transported particulate and ozone.” He also stated that, “We used cost and air quality considerations to determine the amount to reduce.”

The Agency finds that this reduction standard is necessary for environmental reasons because the acid rain caused by these pollutants damages fish populations by altering their blood chemistry, clogging their gills, and disrupting their reproductive cycle. Sulfur and nitrogen emissions also adversely affect forest ecosystems by draining the soils of nutrients and stemming tree growth. This air pollution can travel for thousands or even hundreds of thousands of miles, making it difficult for states to achieve national clean air standards to protect their environment and people, even if their power plants comply with current EPA regulations. Ecosystems have already shown signs of damage from these pollutants. Affected areas include Appalachian streams, lakes in the Adirondack Mountains, coastal waters, and sugar maple forests. The heat wave of this summer has only worsened the negative effects of such emissions by providing a better vehicle for unhealthy smog.

This ozone and particle pollution that results in soot, acid rain, and reduced visibility due to smog over cities and in parks, can have a cumulative effect that can cause asthma, heart attacks, and acute bronchitis. The EPA has reported that the effects of these contaminants could cause illnesses that result in about 14,000 to 36,000 premature American deaths annually. These unseen culprits are also related to 21,000 cases of acute bronchitis, 23,000 non-fatal heart attacks and 240,000 diagnoses of aggravated asthma per year. Such illnesses take a toll not only on the health of the population, but also on the economy.

Estimates by the EPA calculate that negative health factors caused by the pollutants are behind 1.9 million missed school and workdays annually. If the proposal is passed, it could work significantly to reduce this number, and ideally have a positive effect on America’s economy. These regulations are also estimated by the EPA to provide between $120 billion to $290 billion in annual benefits by 2014 by reducing the diagnoses and treatment of these illnesses as well as mitigating the environmental effect of the pollution. That eclipses the $2.8 billion estimated project cost. Electricity costs should also only increase by 2% once the rules are put into place by the power plants.

Even with the positive estimates about the benefits and costs of the provisions, the power sector isn’t looking forward to the regulations. Dan Riedinger, of the Edison Electric Institute, said that the rules would require “dramatic reductions in power sector emissions, on top of major reductions to date, on a very short timeline.”

But the new proposal may be a step in the right direction for the people. After 60 days of open public commenting, the rules are expected to go into effect. The rules will not affect the amount of energy distributed, and the costs to the industry are minimal when compared to the estimated economic value of the benefits.