As the new home of NCPIRG's environmental work,
Environment North Carolina can be contacted with any questions regarding this
news release.
RALEIGH–
Tomorrow the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will hold a
hearing in RTP to discuss air quality issues in North Carolina. The
hearing has been called in response to a petition regarding North
Carolina’s air quality that was filed by state Attorney General, Roy
Cooper.
In
2002 the North Carolina General Assembly passed the Clean Smokestacks
Act. This landmark legislation requires the state's fourteen dirtiest
coal-fired power plants to reduce their smog and soot pollution by more
than 70%. But the law didn’t stop there; it also required that the
state’s leaders take an extra step to reduce power plant pollution
coming into our state from outside sources.
With
the Clean Smokestacks Act and North Carolina’s citizens backing him up,
Attorney General Cooper filed a petition with the EPA under the
authority of section 126 of the federal Clean Air Act. This section of
the law enables any state to petition EPA to control out of state air
pollution that is crossing its borders. In March of 2004, after
documenting that coal-fired power plants in others states were harming
our air quality, Cooper filed a petition asking EPA to take action to
clean up these polluting power plants in 13 upwind states.
On
August 1, 2005, more than one year after its legal deadline to take
action on the North Carolina 126 petition, EPA has responded by
proposing a federal implementation plan (FIP) to ensure timely
implementation of the Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR), released in
March of this year.
“CAIR
is great for states like New York,” said Breanna Peterson, Field
Organizer with North Carolina Public Interest Research Group (NCPIRG),
“but it won’t do enough for North Carolina.”
Overall, CAIR will
reduce smog and soot emissions in a region comprising 28 eastern states
by 60 - 70%. However, CAIR relies on system that will leave North
Carolinians stifled in the smog produced by power plants in other
states.
Some fundamental problems with CAIR being used as a response to North Carolina’s concerns are:
• Power plants won’t clean up soon enough. EPA’s reliance on a system
of early reduction credits (or banked credits) could mean that
pollution reductions will not actually occur when scheduled in 2015,
which is already 5 years too late to help North Carolina reach it’s
mandatory federal clean air standards.
• Harmful summertime smog pollution won’t be adequately reduced. Under
the new federal implementation plan for CAIR, Georgia, one of the 13
states identified in North Carolina’s petition, is exempt from critical
pollution caps. Georgia’s exemption will lead to more air pollution for
North Carolina during the summer months.
• The plan will create pollution “hot spots.” The rule allows power
plants in some areas to avoid pollution reductions by purchasing
“credits” from power plants that cut their emissions beyond what the
law requires. This could result in localized areas downwind of these
regions (including parts of North Carolina) to have higher, more
dangerous pollution levels, or “hot spots”.
In
order to adequately reduce power plant emissions in the southeastern
United States, specifically here in North Carolina, NCPIRG recommends
that EPA take the following actions:
• Remove Georgia’s summertime ozone cap exemption.
• Do not allow power plants in one region of the east coast to buy pollution “credits” from power plants in another region.
• Shorten the timeline, 10 years from now is too long to wait for improvements in air quality.
• Eliminate the banked credits portion of the rule.
These
changes would significantly improve CAIR’s ability to clean up the air
in the region and would provide an adequate response to North
Carolina’s concerns as laid out in the section 126 petition.
“North
Carolina leaders have already hit a home run with the Clean Smokestacks
Act,” said Peterson. “Now EPA needs to step up to the plate and cut
pollution from power plants in other states.”
Tomorrow
is the day for North Carolina citizens to make their voices heard. The
hearing will be held at EPA’s regional offices in RTP. NCPIRG calls on
North Carolinians to stand up for their right to breathe clean, healthy
air.
