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Legislation and Regulations.
Regulation of Mercury and Fine Particulate
Emissions
The EPA is currently developing regulations to reduce
emissions of fine particulates and mercury from electric power plants.
Efforts to reduce emissions of particulate matter less than 2.5
microns in diameter (PM2.5) began with the issuance of
National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) on July 16, 1997.
Before then, only coarse particle emissions (10 microns and larger)
were regulated.
The EPA and the States are now measuring fine particulate
concentrations throughout the country to determine which areas are
not in compliance with the (PM2.5,) as required by the
NAAQS. The EPA plans to make final designations identifying attainment
and nonattainment areas by December 15, 2004 [2]. Following
the EPA designations, States will have 3 years, until December 2007,
to prepare State Implementation Plans (SIPs) identifying the steps
they will take to bring nonattainment areas into compliance. The
SIPs are likely to include plans to reduce emissions from power
plants, cars, trucks, and various industrial sources. The States
will generally have until 2009, 5 years from their designation,
to bring nonattainment areas into compliance, but the deadline could
be extended by 5 years under some circumstances. Until the final
regulations and SIPs are in place, however, the full impacts on
electricity generators will not be known.
On December 14, 2000, the EPA announced that regulating
mercury emissions from oil- and coal-fired power plants as a hazardous
air pollutant (HAP) under Section (112)(n)(1)(A) of CAAA90 is warranted.
The EPA, which has been meeting with various stakeholder groups
and reviewing the latest available data on mercury emissions control
to develop emissions standards, plans to issue proposed standards
on December 15, 2003, and final standards by December 14, 2004 [3].
Thereafter, electricity generators will have 3 years, until December
15, 2007, to comply. Although the new regulations are certain to
have an impact, particularly on coal-fired plants, because SIPs
have not been proposed, their effects are not known and are not
reflected in AEO2004.
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Notes and Sources
Released: January 2004
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