Power plants have to cut more pollution crossing state lines, new EPA rule says
The Biden administration announced tougher limits Wednesday on smog-forming pollutants from power plants and other industrial facilities, a move that officials said would reduce air pollution in downwind communities and help Americans suffering from asthma and other respiratory problems.
The standards, announced by the Environmental Protection Agency, are intended to place tighter constraints on air pollution from 23 states. These are states that benefit economically from coal and natural gas power plants, but release pollution that drifts across state lines, where it affects millions of people who can’t control it.
This interstate air pollution regulation, known as the “good neighbor” rule, has long-pitted Rust Belt and Appalachian states against those on the East Coast. These heavily populated states are especially vulnerable to pollution blown in by the nation’s prevailing west-to-east winds. Many of them have argued for years that they cannot meet federal air quality standards without the federal government’s help in cutting smog and soot pollution that originates across their borders.
For the first time, the EPA has also included three western states in the regulation — California, Nevada and Utah — where industrial polluters contribute to smog levels in states to the east.
“More than 80 million people live in downwind areas that do not meet health standards for this pollutant,” EPA Administrator Michael Regan said Wednesday. “Our more vulnerable communities are hardest hit by these devastating effects.”
Power plants, factory smokestacks and vehicle tailpipes emit nitrogen oxide — which contributes to ozone smog — and also release soot and other harmful chemicals. EPA officials estimate the new restrictions would cut nitrogen oxide emissions from upwind states by roughly 70,000 tons by the summer of 2026, preventing up to 1,300 premature deaths and reducing hospital and emergency room visits. Summer is considered the “ozone season” because of the way hot, sunny weather interacts with air pollutants, worsening levels of ozone, a large component of smog.
Agency officials estimate 25,000 tons of the nitrogen oxide reductions would come from power plants, which must begin following the new standard this year. Other industrial sources, such as cements plants, iron and steel mills, and glass manufacturers, have until 2026 to comply and would make up the remaining 45,000 tons.
Though the new requirements do not target planetwarming carbon pollution from industrial facilities, they could affect climate change indirectly.
They would require coal and gas burning power plants to invest in upgrading pollution controls, making it more expensive for them to operate. The pollution limits could be especially problematic for owners of the nation’s dirtiest coal plants, who may decide to shut down or switch to burning natural gas, rather than install costly new technology.
Republicans and the coal industry have long criticized the regulation for this reason, arguing it would lead to job losses and unfairly burden states that still generate most of their electricity from coalburning plants.
“Americans and American businesses will continue to pay increasingly more for electricity that is less and less reliable” as a result of the new rule, Conor Bernstein, a spokesman for the National Mining Association, wrote in an email. “Even worse, the EPA is unilaterally making these decisions for the states — more than 18 of which use coal as their most common source of electricity generation.”