EPA's Emissions Rule: Reliability at Stake?

 

Some fear NO_x controls will spawn outages and higher power prices.

Utility executives say the EPA's plan to reduce ground-level ozone in the nation's eastern half by controlling emissions of nitrogen oxides in upwind states could undermine electric reliability and force power prices higher.

And that prospect loomed larger in late June, after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit turned down a last-ditch effort to sink the EPA plan, widely known as the "SIP Call." Seeing no reason to interfere any longer, it denied motions for rehearing and left intact its ruling issued March 3 that the Environmental Protection Agency had struck a proper balance under the Clean Air Act between air quality and technological cost constraints. At the same time, the court lifted a stay in force since May 1999 that had suspended the deadline for those upwind areas to prepare a state implementation plan (SIP) for NO_x control and file with the EPA.