Clean Air Reports

Lethal Legacy: A Comprehensive Look At America's Dirtiest Power Plants

2003-10-28

Executive Summary

Since taking office in 2001, President Bush and his administration have broken two important promises to the American public concerning pollution emitted by the nation's oldest and dirtiest power plants.

Just 60 days after taking office, under intense pressure from electric utilities and the coal industry, the Bush administration retracted its campaign promise to support a mandatory cap on power plant emissions of carbon dioxide, the leading cause of global warming.

Then, in August 2003, the Bush administration issued final rule changes to the Clean Air Act's New Source Review program, breaking a decades-old promise codified in the Clean Air Act itself—that old power plants, when making other life-prolonging modifications, would be required to install modern pollution controls. This policy change marks a full retreat from the previous administration's effort to enforce this law.

Each of these broken promises carries with it serious consequences for public health and the environment.

• Millions of tons of soot- and smog-forming emissions each year will go unchecked as a result of the administration's changes to the New Source Review program. This pollution will cause as many as 400,000 asthma attacks and 20,000 premature deaths each year.1
• This same pollution will continue to cause acid rain and acid fog, which at current levels has rendered 25 percent of Adirondack lakes incapable of supporting life and has caused the decline of forest ecosystems throughout the Eastern U.S. and Canada.2
• Our national parks and wilderness areas will continue to be shrouded in a pollution-induced haze, which already diminishes summertime visibility of treasured vistas, such as those in the Great Smokey Mountains and Shenandoah National Park, by as much as 90 percent.
• The U.S., which emits the most carbon dioxide in the world, will continue to delay meaningful action to reduce its emissions of this global warming gas.

As detailed below, enforcement of the Clean Air Act could dramatically cut emissions from the nation's dirtiest power plants, thereby protecting the environment and public health. Similarly, weakening the Clean Air Act—as the Bush administration has done—could erode progress made to improve the nation's air quality over the last three decades.

Key Findings
This report documents the 2002 emissions of smog-forming nitrogen oxides (NOx), soot-forming sulfur dioxide (SO₂), and carbon dioxide (CO₂) from the 548 dirtiest power plants in the nation and quantifies the emissions that will continue unabated as a result of the Bush administration's policies. Each of the plants examined in this report emitted at least 20 tons of "excess" NOx or SO₂—emissions that could be eliminated if the plant was to install modern pollution control equipment.

Sulfur Dioxide (SO₂)
Nationwide, the 548 dirtiest plants emitted 10.1 million tons of SO₂ in 2002. This is about 64 percent of total SO₂ emissions (about 15.8 million tons) from all sources in the U.S. in 2001.³ Of this pollution, 70 percent (7.1 million tons) was "excess," or could be eliminated if the plants met modern emissions standards.⁴ Enforcing—rather than weakening—the New Source Review rules would reduce SO₂emissions by at least this amount.⁵ Sulfur dioxide pollution forms fine-particle "soot," which causes health and environmental problems such as premature death from heart and respiratory problems, acid rain, and haze in our national parks.

Nitrogen Oxides
Nationwide, these 548 plants emitted 4.4 million tons of NOx in 2002. This is nearly 20 percent of total NOx emissions (about 22 million tons) from all sources in the U.S. In 2001.⁶ Of this pollution, 62 percent (2.7 million tons) was "excess," or could be eliminated if the plants met modern NOx emission standards.⁷ Enforcing—rather than weakening—the New Source Review rules would reduce NOx emissions by at least this amount.⁸ NOx forms "smog" or ground-level ozone, which in turn exacerbates or even causes respiratory illness and asthma. Smog pollution also creates acid rain and clouds scenic vistas.

Carbon dioxide (CO₂)
Nationwide, these 548 plants emitted 2.2 billion tons of CO₂ in 2002. This is almost 35 percent of total CO₂ emissions (about 6.4 billion tons) from all sources in the U.S. In 2001.⁹ CO₂ is the leading cause of global warming.

Notes

1 These numbers were calculated by the Clean Air Task Force, using data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration on likely emissions decreases resulting from full application of the NSR program, in its December 2000 study entitled Analysis of Strategies for Reducing Multiple Emissions from Power Plants: Sulfur Dioxide, Nitrogen Oxides and Carbon Dioxide.

2 Baker, J.P., J. Van Sickle, C.J. Gagen, D.R. DeWalle, W.E. Sharpe, R.F. Carline, B.P. Baldigo, P.S. Murdoch, D.W. Bath, W.A. Kretser, H.A. Simonin, and P.J. Wigington, 1996. Episodic acidification of small streams in the Northeastern Unites States: Effects of fish populations. Ecological Applications 6(2): 422-437,

3 U.S. EPA, National Air Quality and Emissions Trends Report, www.epa.gov/ttn/chief/trends/trends01/trends2001_aug2003.zip.

4 Note in methodology section that for the purposes of this report we use 0.30 pounds of sulfur dioxide per million BTUs of fuel input as the modern emission standard for sulfur. That this standard is being met routinely can be verified in EPA’s RACT/BACT/LAER clearinghouse, http://cfpub1.epa.gov/rblc/htm/bl02.cfm.

5 The U.S. Energy Information Administration report cited in Note 1 estimates that full application of the New Source Review program would cut SO2 emissions to just 1.9 million tons, eliminating 8.2 million tons. EIA’s numbers reflect an assumption that some sources would repower or retire rather than install new pollution controls.

6 U.S. EPA, National Air Quality and Emission Trends Report, www.epa.gov/ttn/chief/trends/trends01/trends2001_aug2003.zip.

7 Note in methodology section that for the purposes of this report we use 0.15 pounds of sulfur dioxide per million BTUs of fuel input as the modern emission standard for sulfur. That this standard is being met routinely can be verified in EPA’s RACT/BACT/LAER clearinghouse, http://cfpub1.epa.gov/rblc/htm/bl02.cfm.

8 The EIA study cited in Note 1 also projected that enforcement of NSR would reduce power plant NOx emissions to just 1.6 million tons, a cut of about 2.8 million tons. Again, this reflects the assumption that some sources would retire rather than install pollution controls if forced to comply with NSR.

9 Energy Information Administration, Emissions of Greenhouse Gases in the United States 2001. Report #: DOE/EIA-0573. Available at http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/1605/ggrpt/carbon.html.

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