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Written by John Egan for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--On Wednesday, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) (Washington, D.C.) released its long-awaited draft rule for power plant emissions of mercury, arsenic, chromium, nickel and acid gases at a press conference at which EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson was joined by the leader of the American Lung Association.
The draft rule, issued in response to a court-mandated deadline, is the first time that power plant emissions of mercury and other air toxics would be covered by the Clean Air Act (CAA). The 1990 CAA amendments instructed the EPA to regulate power-plant emissions of mercury and other air toxics. In February 2008, a federal court vacated EPA's attempt to lower mercury emissions from power plants, the Clean Air Mercury Rule, which called for a 70% reduction in mercury emissions. The court slammed that proposal as too lax. Wednesday's proposed rule would prevent the release of an estimated 91% of mercury contained in coal, EPA said.
Wednesday's announcement also included a proposal to revise the new source performance standard (NSPS) for emissions of particulate matter (PM), sulfur dioxide (SO2), and nitrogen oxides (NOx) from new utility and industrial boilers. The tightened proposed NSPS standards would apply to new boilers that burn coal, oil and natural gas to produce steam for use as heat or electricity. The EPA specifically noted that the new NSPS would apply to industrial facilities like petroleum refiners, chemical processors, manufacturers and paper mills.
The EPA will take comments on its draft rule for 60 days after publishing it in the Federal Register. The agency also will hold public meetings in Philadelphia, Atlanta, and Chicago to take comments.
"Today's announcement is 20 years in the making, and is a significant milestone in the Clean Air Act's already unprecedented record of ensuring our children are protected from the damaging effects of toxic air pollution," said EPA's Jackson. "With the help of existing technologies, we will be able to take reasonable steps that will provide dramatic protections to our children and loved ones, preventing premature deaths, heart attacks, and asthma attacks."
The proposal would affect all existing and new coal-fired and oil-fired electric generators--about 1,200 coal-fired generators and 150 oil-fired generators--according to the EPA. The affected generators are located at about 525 plants. Gas-fired generators are not affected by Wednesday's proposed rule. EPA estimated that the draft rule would cost the utility industry an estimated $10.9 billion per year in 2016.
"Electric utilities and equipment suppliers now have a little clearer picture about what the government wants to see in terms of emissions reductions," said Brock Ramey, Industrial Info's manager of research for the North American power industry. "Now, each utility will have to start making hard choices about where they will invest and where they will not. This rule will have a huge impact on the electric power industry, their equipment suppliers and their customers. As always, the devil will be in the details. For example, the EPA refers to 'advanced' pollution control technologies. Different people will define 'advanced' in different ways."
EPA estimated that the rule also would create 31,000 temporary construction jobs, 9,000 permanent utility-industry jobs, and would lead to a significant increase in spending for environmental consulting and pollution-control equipment. New power-plant development also is expected to surge, as utilities will need to replace some of the generating capacity that will be closed by the new regulation. Many experts expect that gas-fired electric generation will capture the majority of this "replacement" market.
Industrial Info's data differs slightly from the EPA's, IIR's Ramey said in an interview. For example, he said that IIR was tracking a total of 1,075 operational coal-fired electric generators in the U.S. and 136 operational generators that use fuel oil as their primary fuel. Both were slightly less than what EPA estimated.
Of those operational coal-fired generators, about 208 have no flue gas desulfurization (FGD) equipment at all, Ramey observed. He said that 140 operational coal units have no NOx controls. "A fair number of these plants are being considered for retirement over the next four to five years," he said.
Among those coal-fired generators, 125 units with a total generating capacity of 73 gigawatts (GW) are equipped with wet scrubbers and selective catalytic reduction (SCR) equipment, which reduces SOx and NOx emissions, as well as mercury, Ramey noted. An additional 51 coal-fired units either have, or plan to install, activated carbon injection equipment to lower NOx emissions.
Turning to the 136 operational generators that use fuel oil as their primary fuel, Ramey said that between 40 and 50 have no NOx or particulate emissions control equipment. In addition, only about 7 of those oil-fired generators have some type of FGD equipment, he said.
The draft rule applies to any electricity generator, including generators owned by the federal government, which provides electricity to retail customers. Under a timeline mandated by a federal court, the rule must be finalized by November 16, 2011. Affected generating units will have four years to comply with the new emission standards.
Roughly half of all coal-fired electric generators in the U.S. have some type of pollution control technology that makes them compliant with at least some of the new emissions standards, the EPA said. The agency is targeting the 44% of coal-fired power plants that have little or no pollution-control equipment. A significant portion of these uncontrolled power plants are located in the Midwest. Some utilities can comply with the new standards by upgrading existing pollution-control equipment, while others will have to install new equipment such as fabric filters, dry sorbent injection or activated carbon injection.
The rule would result in the closure of an estimated 20 gigawatts of coal-fired electric capacity, the agency projected. Prior to the draft rule, consulting firms and financial services firms had predicted the closure of far more coal-fired electric generation.
Power plants are responsible for about 50% of mercury emissions, more than 50% of acid gas emissions and about 25% of toxic metal emissions in the United States, the EPA said. Coal-fired power plants account for about 99% of power-plant emissions of mercury, as well as the bulk the other pollutants from the power sector.
The long-awaited rule will require utilities and industrial boilers to deploy maximum achievable control technology (MACT), which is the standard contained in the Clean Air Act for controlling emissions of HAPs. This proposed toxics rule would regulate units at both major and area sources. Major sources are those that have the potential to emit 10 tons per year or more of any one air toxic, or 25 tons per year or more of any combination of air toxics, the agency said.
Power plant HAPs like mercury, arsenic, chromium and nickel are known or suspected causes of cancer. Mercury emissions are a particular concern for women of childbearing age, unborn babies and young children, because studies have linked high levels of methyl mercury to damage to the developing nervous system. This damage can impair children's ability to think and learn, the EPA said.
Reducing HAPs from power plants also would lower emissions of fine particulates (PM2.5), thus preventing thousands of premature deaths and tens of thousands of heart attacks, bronchitis cases, asthma attacks, emergency-room visits and lost employee productivity resulting from these ailments, the EPA said.
The agency estimates that for every dollar spent to reduce power plant emissions, citizens and businesses will gain up to $13 in health and economic benefits. The total health and economic benefits of Wednesday's proposed rules are estimated to be as much as $140 billion annually, it said.
"The American Lung Association applauds the release of this sensible public health measure," said Charles D. Connor, president and CEO of the American Lung Association. "When it becomes final, the cleanup rule that the EPA is putting forward today will save lives, protect the health of millions of Americans and finally bring about an action that is 20 years overdue. This must happen."
EPA stressed that companies could use a variety of technologies, operating practices and strategies to comply with its new proposal. Technology options included wet and dry scrubbers, dry sorbent injection systems, activated carbon injection systems and baghouses.
"EPA's proposal would present substantial challenges for many utilities and their customers, while being less burdensome for others," said Dan Riedinger, a spokesman for the Edison Electric Institute (EEI) (Washington, D.C.), the trade group representing about 70% of the U.S. electric power industry. "Companies facing multiple emission-control requirements under very tight deadlines would face the biggest challenges related to costs and possibly jobs."
"There is general agreement within the power sector that, as EPA moves forward with this and other regulatory proposals, the agency should seek to incorporate flexibility into its implementation strategies," he said in a statement. "This will be one of the main criteria individual utilities will use to evaluate this and other programs. Regulations should allow for compliance in the most cost-effective manner to avoid undue impacts on customers, the economy and jobs."
Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. IIR's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities.
The draft rule, issued in response to a court-mandated deadline, is the first time that power plant emissions of mercury and other air toxics would be covered by the Clean Air Act (CAA). The 1990 CAA amendments instructed the EPA to regulate power-plant emissions of mercury and other air toxics. In February 2008, a federal court vacated EPA's attempt to lower mercury emissions from power plants, the Clean Air Mercury Rule, which called for a 70% reduction in mercury emissions. The court slammed that proposal as too lax. Wednesday's proposed rule would prevent the release of an estimated 91% of mercury contained in coal, EPA said.
Wednesday's announcement also included a proposal to revise the new source performance standard (NSPS) for emissions of particulate matter (PM), sulfur dioxide (SO2), and nitrogen oxides (NOx) from new utility and industrial boilers. The tightened proposed NSPS standards would apply to new boilers that burn coal, oil and natural gas to produce steam for use as heat or electricity. The EPA specifically noted that the new NSPS would apply to industrial facilities like petroleum refiners, chemical processors, manufacturers and paper mills.
The EPA will take comments on its draft rule for 60 days after publishing it in the Federal Register. The agency also will hold public meetings in Philadelphia, Atlanta, and Chicago to take comments.
"Today's announcement is 20 years in the making, and is a significant milestone in the Clean Air Act's already unprecedented record of ensuring our children are protected from the damaging effects of toxic air pollution," said EPA's Jackson. "With the help of existing technologies, we will be able to take reasonable steps that will provide dramatic protections to our children and loved ones, preventing premature deaths, heart attacks, and asthma attacks."
The proposal would affect all existing and new coal-fired and oil-fired electric generators--about 1,200 coal-fired generators and 150 oil-fired generators--according to the EPA. The affected generators are located at about 525 plants. Gas-fired generators are not affected by Wednesday's proposed rule. EPA estimated that the draft rule would cost the utility industry an estimated $10.9 billion per year in 2016.
"Electric utilities and equipment suppliers now have a little clearer picture about what the government wants to see in terms of emissions reductions," said Brock Ramey, Industrial Info's manager of research for the North American power industry. "Now, each utility will have to start making hard choices about where they will invest and where they will not. This rule will have a huge impact on the electric power industry, their equipment suppliers and their customers. As always, the devil will be in the details. For example, the EPA refers to 'advanced' pollution control technologies. Different people will define 'advanced' in different ways."
EPA estimated that the rule also would create 31,000 temporary construction jobs, 9,000 permanent utility-industry jobs, and would lead to a significant increase in spending for environmental consulting and pollution-control equipment. New power-plant development also is expected to surge, as utilities will need to replace some of the generating capacity that will be closed by the new regulation. Many experts expect that gas-fired electric generation will capture the majority of this "replacement" market.
Industrial Info's data differs slightly from the EPA's, IIR's Ramey said in an interview. For example, he said that IIR was tracking a total of 1,075 operational coal-fired electric generators in the U.S. and 136 operational generators that use fuel oil as their primary fuel. Both were slightly less than what EPA estimated.
Of those operational coal-fired generators, about 208 have no flue gas desulfurization (FGD) equipment at all, Ramey observed. He said that 140 operational coal units have no NOx controls. "A fair number of these plants are being considered for retirement over the next four to five years," he said.
Among those coal-fired generators, 125 units with a total generating capacity of 73 gigawatts (GW) are equipped with wet scrubbers and selective catalytic reduction (SCR) equipment, which reduces SOx and NOx emissions, as well as mercury, Ramey noted. An additional 51 coal-fired units either have, or plan to install, activated carbon injection equipment to lower NOx emissions.
Turning to the 136 operational generators that use fuel oil as their primary fuel, Ramey said that between 40 and 50 have no NOx or particulate emissions control equipment. In addition, only about 7 of those oil-fired generators have some type of FGD equipment, he said.
The draft rule applies to any electricity generator, including generators owned by the federal government, which provides electricity to retail customers. Under a timeline mandated by a federal court, the rule must be finalized by November 16, 2011. Affected generating units will have four years to comply with the new emission standards.
Roughly half of all coal-fired electric generators in the U.S. have some type of pollution control technology that makes them compliant with at least some of the new emissions standards, the EPA said. The agency is targeting the 44% of coal-fired power plants that have little or no pollution-control equipment. A significant portion of these uncontrolled power plants are located in the Midwest. Some utilities can comply with the new standards by upgrading existing pollution-control equipment, while others will have to install new equipment such as fabric filters, dry sorbent injection or activated carbon injection.
The rule would result in the closure of an estimated 20 gigawatts of coal-fired electric capacity, the agency projected. Prior to the draft rule, consulting firms and financial services firms had predicted the closure of far more coal-fired electric generation.
Power plants are responsible for about 50% of mercury emissions, more than 50% of acid gas emissions and about 25% of toxic metal emissions in the United States, the EPA said. Coal-fired power plants account for about 99% of power-plant emissions of mercury, as well as the bulk the other pollutants from the power sector.
The long-awaited rule will require utilities and industrial boilers to deploy maximum achievable control technology (MACT), which is the standard contained in the Clean Air Act for controlling emissions of HAPs. This proposed toxics rule would regulate units at both major and area sources. Major sources are those that have the potential to emit 10 tons per year or more of any one air toxic, or 25 tons per year or more of any combination of air toxics, the agency said.
Power plant HAPs like mercury, arsenic, chromium and nickel are known or suspected causes of cancer. Mercury emissions are a particular concern for women of childbearing age, unborn babies and young children, because studies have linked high levels of methyl mercury to damage to the developing nervous system. This damage can impair children's ability to think and learn, the EPA said.
Reducing HAPs from power plants also would lower emissions of fine particulates (PM2.5), thus preventing thousands of premature deaths and tens of thousands of heart attacks, bronchitis cases, asthma attacks, emergency-room visits and lost employee productivity resulting from these ailments, the EPA said.
The agency estimates that for every dollar spent to reduce power plant emissions, citizens and businesses will gain up to $13 in health and economic benefits. The total health and economic benefits of Wednesday's proposed rules are estimated to be as much as $140 billion annually, it said.
"The American Lung Association applauds the release of this sensible public health measure," said Charles D. Connor, president and CEO of the American Lung Association. "When it becomes final, the cleanup rule that the EPA is putting forward today will save lives, protect the health of millions of Americans and finally bring about an action that is 20 years overdue. This must happen."
EPA stressed that companies could use a variety of technologies, operating practices and strategies to comply with its new proposal. Technology options included wet and dry scrubbers, dry sorbent injection systems, activated carbon injection systems and baghouses.
"EPA's proposal would present substantial challenges for many utilities and their customers, while being less burdensome for others," said Dan Riedinger, a spokesman for the Edison Electric Institute (EEI) (Washington, D.C.), the trade group representing about 70% of the U.S. electric power industry. "Companies facing multiple emission-control requirements under very tight deadlines would face the biggest challenges related to costs and possibly jobs."
"There is general agreement within the power sector that, as EPA moves forward with this and other regulatory proposals, the agency should seek to incorporate flexibility into its implementation strategies," he said in a statement. "This will be one of the main criteria individual utilities will use to evaluate this and other programs. Regulations should allow for compliance in the most cost-effective manner to avoid undue impacts on customers, the economy and jobs."
Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. IIR's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities.
