– 6.3 million tons of SO2 per year
– 1.4 million tons of NOX per year
• 300,000 tons of NOX during ozone season (included in NOX estimate above)
• These reductions represent a 71% reduction in SO2 and a 52% reduction in NOX emissions from power plants from 2005 levels in the covered states.
• EPA estimates the annual benefits from the proposed rule range between $120-$290 billion (2006 $) in 2014.
– Most of these benefits are public health-related.
– $3.4 billion are attributable to visibility improvements in areas such as national parks and wilderness areas.
– Other nonmonetized benefits include reductions in mercury ontamination, acid rain, eutrophication of estuaries and coastal waters, nd acidification of forest soils.
• EPA estimates annual compliance costs at $2.8 billion in 214.
• Modest costs mean small effects on electricity generation. EPA estimates that in 2014:
– Electricity prices increase less than 2 percent.
– Natural gas prices increase less than 1 percent.
– Coal use is reduced by less than 1 percent.
To assure emissions reductions happen quickly, EPA is proposing federal implementation plans, or FIPs, for each of the states covered by this rule.
– A state may choose to develop a state plan to achieve the required reductions, replacing its federal plan, and may choose which types of sources to control.
• Proposal defines upwind state obligations to reduce pollution significantly contributing to downwind nonattainment areas based on:
– the magnitude of a state's contribution,
– the cost of controlling pollution from various sources, and
– the air quality impacts of reductions.
