EPA rules to stem flow of smog over state lines

By Jeff Nesmith Copyright 1998 Atlanta Journal and Constitution September 25, 1998

New federal regulations will require Georgia and 21 other Eastern states to cut emissions of smog-causing chemicals, primarily from power plants, to stem the flow of air pollution across state lines.

Environmental Protection Agency administrator Carol Browner said most of the reductions likely will come from new air pollution standards state officials will impose on electric power plants, the largest and least-controlled sources of the air pollution.

The regulations propose to eliminate more than 1.1 million tons of smog-causing nitrogen oxide emitted to the atmosphere over eight years.

Browner said the cost to power companies of reducing the smog emissions likely will add about $ 1 per month to the average residential electric bill. EPA did not dictate where the reductions will be made, but Browner said the most cost-effective means of meeting mandated limits would be for states to limit power plant emissions.

The move was hailed by environmental groups, which have long pressed federal officials to take action to limit nitrogen oxide emissions that drift from state to state. "EPA has stood with the public and not with the polluters today," said Jennifer Lyons, coordinator of the Georgia AirKeepers Campaign.

"In Georgia, more than 3.2 million people live in areas where it is unsafe to breathe the air due to ozone pollution," added Dr. Joyce Doyle, with the Emory University Department of Medicine. "For our doctors who are on the front lines of treating patients that suffer from effects of air pollution, all pollution prevented helps," Doyle said.

Georgia Power had criticized earlier drafts of the plan as a "one-size-fits-all" approach to a complex pollution problem, and the company will analyze the new regulations and confer with the state Environmental Protection Division about their implementation, said John Sell, company spokesman.

The regulation covers all states east of the Mississippi River except Florida, Mississippi, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine.

Affected states were given a maximum level of nitrogen oxides, known as "NOx," emissions they will not be legally able to exceed after 2007.

Georgia would be allowed to release no more than 177,381 tons of NOx annually after 2007 under the regulation. The figure represents a reduction of 26 percent from the 240,540 tons of the pollutant the state would be expected to release without the cap.

The plan would reduce emissions that otherwise would occur that year --- given expected growth between now and then --- by an average of 28 percent, EPA officials said. "By 2007 we anticipate that this action will cut 1.1 million tons of nitrogen oxide emissions each year in these states," Browner said.

"As a result of this action, 138 million Americans living in the eastern United States will breathe cleaner air," Browner said. She said EPA estimated that the annual cost of meeting the limits will be $ 1.7 billion in the 22 states. The benefits, primarily in reduced respiratory illness in urban areas, will be $ 3.4 billion, she said.

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