Clear the Air:
National Campaign Against Dirty Power

The Clean Smokestacks Act will close the grandfather loophole and force power plants to clean up their acts. Coal-burning power plants create massive pollution.


Electricity generation is our nation's largest source of air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. Nationally, annual power plant emissions are responsible for 36% of carbon dioxide (CO2), 64% of sulfur dioxide (SO2), 26% of nitrogen oxides (Nox), and 33% of mercury emissions (Hg). These four pollutants are the major cause of our worst environmental problems, including acid rain, smog, respiratory illness, mercury contamination, and global warming. Among power plants, the dirty and old coal-fired plants produce the most pollution. While 58% of power plant boilers in operation in the U.S. are fueled by coal, they contribute 93% of Nox, 96% of SO2, 88% of Co2, and 99% of the mercury emitted by the entire power industry.


Clean Air Act loophole keeps dirty old coal fired power plants alive

Today the vast majority of coal- and oil-fired power plants have avoided the most productive air emissions standards. When the Clean Air Act was amended in 1970 and 1977, the power industry argued that many of the nation's older power plants would be retired and replaced by cleaner, new power plants and therefore should be exempt form new emission regulations. However, for a variety of reasons, most of these plants have not retired. Because of this grandfathering loophole, coal-fired power plants are largely exempt from modern, state-of-the-art pollution control requirements.


The Pollution Reduction Objectives of the Waxman Clean Smokestacks Act are necessary and achieveable

Congressman Waxman of California currently has a bill awaiting legislative action called the Clean Smokestacks Act. This Act would require significant reductions in the emissions of sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxides (NO2), carbon dioxide (CO2) and mercury (Hg) from power plants. It would also eliminate the grandfather loophole that currently exempts dirty old power plants from modern Clean Air Act pollution controls.

Each of these pollutants causes massive damage to human health and the environment. SO2 causes acid rain and respiratory disease. NOx is the primary cause of ozone pollution (smog) that harms millions of Americans each summer. CO2 is the "greenhouse" gas most directly linked to global warming. And mercury poisons many lakes and rivers throughout the U.S., causing their fish to be unfit for human consumption.

Power plants emit more of these damaging pollutants into the environment than any other source. The Clean Air Act and other environmental measures have not succeeded in lowering power plant pollution.

The Clean Smokestacks Act would require that the following emission reductions be achieved by 2005: SO2 and NOx emissions must be cut by 75% from 1997 levels; CO2 emissions must be cut to 1990 levels; and mercury emissions must be cut by 90% from 1997 levels. These emissions cuts are readily achievable, targeted to further the goals of the Clean Air Act, and necessary to decrease the high degree of health and environmental damage caused by power plant pollution.


Sulfur Dioxide

Under Phase II of the Acid Rain program, power plant SO2 emissions are limited to 8.9 million tons annually. However, EPA and other studies have shown that far greater reductions are needed to meaningfully reduce the public health and environmental damage caused by SO2 emissions from power plants.

Sulfate particles produced by SO2 emissions are the primary component of fine particle pollution in the Eastern U.S. Fine particle pollution results in the premature deaths of more than 45,000 people in the U.S. each year. U.S. EPA estimates that sulfur dioxide reductions of 50% or more beyond the reductions required by Phase II of the Acid Rain program will avoid over 10,000 premature deaths annually.

Sulfuric Acid produced by SO2 emissions is the primary component of acid rain. A 1997 Canadian study found that even with full implementation of Canadian and U.S. acid rain programs, a large area of southeastern Canada will continue to receive levels of acid rain that will harm aquatic and forest ecosystems. To prevent this damage, cuts of U.S. SO2 emissions of 75% beyond Phase II of the current Acid Rain program are necessary.

In its 1995 report to Congress, "Acid Deposition Standard Feasibility Study," U.S. EPA determined that reducing both SO2 and NOx emissions by as much as 50% beyond Phase II of the current Acid Rain program requirements may be needed to prevent further acidification of the Adirondacks. Similarly, a 1998 study of Virginia trout streams found that only half are non-acidic enough to support brook trout, down from 82% of pre-industrial streams. To avoid further degradation, the study concludes that a 70% percent reduction in sulfate deposition relative to 1991 levels will be needed.

Thus, according to the studies by EPA and others, a 75% cut in SO2 emissions, as called for in the Waxman Clean Smokestacks Act, will help save thousands of lives that would otherwise be lost from exposure to fine particulate matter pollution. It will also prevent significant damage to forests and aquatic ecosystems from acid rain.


Nitrogen Oxides

US EPA has determined that summertime NOx emissions from power plants must be reduced by 85% from 1990 levels in 22 Eastern states in order to ensure that ozone pollution form upwind states will not prevent downwind states from complying with the national health standard for ozone. EPA also estimated that a reduction in fine particulate matter caused by NOx emissions will prevent hundreds of premature deaths in ozone season. Many more lives could be saved if these reductions were extended year-round.

A reduction in power plant NOx emissions is also necessary to protect the health of our rivers, lakes, bays, and wetlands. NOx emissions lead to nitrogen deposition onto land and water, which in turn contributes to the over fertilization of these surface waters. Too much nitrogen in these water bodies causes increased algae growth, which limits oxygen available to sustain fish and other aquatic life. The contribution of NOx emissions to over fertilization of waters can be high. For instance, EPA estimates that 27% of the nitrogen entering the Chesapeake Bay is from NOx emissions. The major portion of that nitrogen (37%) comes from power plant NOx emissions.

Power plant NOx reductions are also necessary to help fight acid rain. NOx are precursors to nitrates, a major component to acid rain. Acid rain damages both aquatic life and forested systems. In many acid-sensitive streams and lakes in eastern North America, high acidity has resulted in the loss of numerous fish and aquatic species.

Thus, EPA's studies demonstrate that a 75% cut in NOx emissions, as called for in the Waxman Clean Smokestacks Act, will help Eastern states comply with the health standard for ozone pollution, reduce deaths from fine particulate matter, and decrease the over-fertilization that is harming our rivers, lakes, bays, and wetlands. It will also reduce acid rain that damages our aquatic systems and forests.


Mercury

Power plants currently emit about 52 tons of mercury annually in the U.S. This mercury is transported through the air, sometimes for thousands of miles, eventually depositing to water and land. In the aquatic ecosystem, mercury enters the food chain, thereby exposing humans and wildlife when contaminated fish are consumed. Exposure to high levels of mercury has been associated with serious neurological and developmental damage to humans. Depending on the dose, the effects range from subtle losses of sensory or cognitive ability, delays in developmental milestones (e.g. walking, talking), to birth defects, tremors, convulsions, and even death.

Coal-fired power plants are far and away the single biggest source of mercury pollution in the U.S. and worldwide. They are responsible for 34% of the total mercury emitted by all sources. They emit almost twice as much mercury as the next biggest source of mercury emissions - municipal waste incinerators (19%). However, unlike incinerators, power plants have completely escaped regulatory controls on mercury pollution. For instance, EPA recently issued regulations for municipal and medical waste incinerators that will reduce their mercury emissions by 90% and 94% by 2002. If the U.S. is to achieve any additional significant reductions in mercury pollution, power plants must also reduce their emissions. A 90% reduction in power plant mercury emissions, as called for in the Waxman Clean Smokestacks Act, would simply make power plants do their fair share to combat mercury pollution. Numerous field studies have demonstrated that more than 90% of the mercury in power plant emissions can be removed.


Carbon Dioxide

Fossil fuel combustion accounts for 99% of the total U.S. CO2 emissions. More than one-third of that CO2 (36%) is emitted from fossil fuels burned at power plants. Too much CO2 in the atmosphere causes excess heat to be trapped, forcing global temperatures upward, the phenomenon known as "global warming". As a result of excessive power plant emissions, CO2 has become the principal global warming pollutant.

The Rio Treaty on global warming commits the U.S. to achieving "stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous interference with the climate system." Specifically, the Rio Accord seeks to reduce CO2 emissions to their 1990 levels by 2000. President Bush committed to this level of CO2 reduction on behalf of the U.S., and the U.S. Senate ratified the Rio Accord.

The Waxman Clean Smokestacks Act seeks to return power plant CO2 emissions to their 1990 levels by 2005, five years after the date agreed to by President Bush in the Rio Accord. Thus, the Act is a modest and achievable first step in reducing CO2 emissions and addressing the global warming problem.