EPA RULE RESTRICTS SMOKESTACK POLLUTION
The Biden administration on Wednesday finalized a rule forcing factories and power plants in 23 Western and Midwestern states to sharply cut smog-causing pollution that is released from their smokestacks and fouls the air in Eastern states.
Known as the “good neighbor” rule, the new regulation strengthens and expands an earlier interstate air pollution standard that was enacted during the Obama administration. While that rule directed power plants to clean up their emissions, the revised rule enforces similar controls on mills, factories and other industrial facilities.
The Environmental Protection Agency is required by the Clean Air Act to periodically review and revise the rule. After failing do so during the Trump administration, it is now strengthening restrictions under a court-ordered deadline.
The good neighbor rule holds that states should take measures to ensure that their pollution doesn’t affect downwind states. It directs coal-burning power plants and industrial facilities such as iron, steel, cement and concrete manufacturers in the Western and Midwestern states to reduce their emissions of nitrogen dioxide, a pollutant that causes smog and is linked to asthma, lung disease and premature death.
Soot and exhaust belched from those industrial facilities is carried by prevailing winds toward Eastern states, causing high levels of pollution in states with fewer industries.
“Every community deserves fresh air to breathe,” EPA Administrator Michael Regan said. “We know air pollution doesn’t stop at the state line.”
The tighter rules on power plants will come into force later this year, while the new controls on factories and other industrial polluters will take effect in 2026.
The revised rule is one of a stack of climate and clean air regulations expected this year from the Biden administration, including stricter controls on planet-warming emissions from cars, trucks, power plants and oil and gas wells and mercury pollution from power plants.
The EPA estimates that the updated good neighbor rule will cut emissions of nitrogen oxide in the affected states by 50 percent from 2021 levels by 2027.