Republican lawmakers in the Senate and the House of Representatives last Thursday introduced legislation based on the Bush administration’s “Clear Skies” initiative, which would create a mandatory program to reduce power plant emissions of sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxides (NOx) and mercury by setting a national cap on each pollutant.

The legislation was introduced in the Senate by Sens. James Inhofe (R-OK) and George Voinovich (R-OH) and in the House by Reps. Billy Tauzin (R-LA) and Joe Barton (R-TX). Inhofe serves as chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, on which Voinovich sits. Tauzin is chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, while Barton serves as chairman of that committee’s Subcommittee on Energy and Air Quality.

As proposed, the administration’s Clear Skies plan aims to cut SO2 emissions by 73% from year 2000 emissions of 11 million tons to a cap of 4.5 million tons in 2010 and to a cap of 3 million tons in 2018. Also, the plan would reduce emissions of NOx by 67% from year 2000 emissions of 5 million tons to a cap of 2.1 million tons in 2008 and to a cap of 1.7 million tons in 2018.

In addition, the proposal would slash mercury emissions by 69% using the first-ever national cap on mercury emissions. They would be cut from 1999 emissions of 48 tons to a cap of 26 tons in 2010 and to a cap of 15 tons in 2018.

Clear Skies’ NOx and SO2 requirements would affect all fossil fuel-fired electric generators greater than 25 MW that sell electricity. Mercury requirements would affect only the subset of these units that are coal-fired.

“Clear Skies will dramatically reduce harmful emissions from power plants by 70% from current levels and its passage is a top environmental priority of this administration,” Christie Whitman said.

Meanwhile, the Edison Electric Institute (EEI) said that the Clear Skies initiative “provides a strong platform for achieving dramatic cuts in power plant emissions more quickly, and in a more cost-effective manner, than current Clean Air Act programs.”

“The Clean Air Act has produced substantial improvements in air quality over the last three decades,” said EEI President Thomas Kuhn. “The question is whether there’s a better way to reduce power plant emissions even further — an approach that guarantees continued air quality improvements while maintaining a reliable and affordable supply of electricity. We think the Clear Skies initiative is headed in the right direction.”

EEI in Janaury announced that the electric power sector has teamed up with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to form a new voluntary initiative under which electric utilities will “substantially reduce, avoid, or capture carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions over this decade.”

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