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| The Environmental Protection Agency has
released a cost analysis of its proposal to modestly strengthen its standard
for fine-particle pollution from power plants, motor vehicles other sources.
EPA's proposal is highly controversial: environmental and public health groups say it is too weak, while the power and other industries claim it is unjustifiably rigorous and will cost tens of billions of dollars to implement. EPA said it was unable to calculate the costs of its proposal on a national level due to incomplete data and insufficient modeling tools. The agency did estimate compliance costs in five major urban areas. Atlanta and Chicago, for example, will both be able to meet the standard by the 2015 deadline with no costs above what they will spend complying with other national air-pollution rules now in place, EPA said. Conversely, the San Joaquin Valley north of Los Angeles is not likely to meet the standard no matter how rigorously it attempts to control its emissions, EPA said. Other cities, including Seattle and Philadelphia, could meet the standard by taking various steps to reduce emissions from nearby power plants and other sources, EPA said. EPA's analysis contains numerous charts and tables estimating the power sector's costs of meeting the standards through myriad different emissions-control options. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman James Inhofe, R-Okla., an outspoken critic of EPA's efforts to strengthen the standards, still wants EPA to do a nationwide cost study, one of the senator's aides said. Inhofe tried to prevent EPA from strengthening the standards when the agency last did so during the Clinton administration. EPA is under court order to issue a final standard by September. Copyright © 2005 - Platts Please visit: www.platts.com Their coverage of energy matters is extensive!!. |