The new standard ranks as one of the most expensive in the EPA’s history, with an estimated $9.6 billion price tag. The utilities have until 2015 to 2016 to comply.
Matt Butler, spokesman for Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, said because the state is moving toward setting rates by market auction, additional costs of environmental compliance could be reflected in the competitive market prices of electricity.
Earlier this month, the Dayton Daily News reported that the Environmental Integrity Project and the Sierra Club ranked the five worst states by emissions as Pennsylvania, first for arsenic and lead; Ohio, ranked second for total mercury and selenium; Indiana, ranked fourth for chromium and nickel; Kentucky, ranked second for arsenic; and Texas, ranked first for mercury and selenium. Top Ohio plants based on 2010 mercury emissions include FirstEnergy’s W.H. Sammis at 424 pounds, Ohio Valley Electric’s Corp.’s Kyger Creek Station at 420 pounds and American Electric Power’s Cardinal Plant at 407 pounds.
Dayton Power & Light said Wednesday it is studying the new rules, as is AEP. FirstEnergy spokesman Mark Durbin said the company, which includes Ohio Edison serving Springfield, is studying the 1,000 pages of rules to see how it will affect 18 power plants, seven in Ohio.
Although costs to retrofit will be between $2 billion and $3 billion for FirstEnergy, the company does not plan to pass the cost on to customers, Durbin said.
About half of the 1,300 coal- and oil-fired units nationwide still lack modern pollution controls, despite the EPA in 1990 getting the authority from Congress to control toxic air pollution from power plant smokestacks. A decade later, in 2000, the agency concluded it was necessary to clamp down on the emissions to protect public health. Decades of litigation and changing political winds have allowed power plants to keep running without addressing their full environmental and public health costs.
EPA administrator Lisa Jackson said in a statement that the standards “will protect millions of families and children from harmful and costly air pollution and provide the American people with health benefits that far outweigh the costs.”
Its release comes after intense lobbying from power producers and criticism from Republicans, who said the rule would threaten jobs and electric reliability and raise electricity prices.
To ease those concerns, the administration will encourage states to make “broadly available” an additional fourth year to comply with the rule, as allowed by the law. Case-by-case extensions could also be granted to address local reliability issues, according to a presidential memorandum to Jackson.
In the memorandum, President Barack Obama said the new standards “will promote the transition to a cleaner and more efficient U.S. electric power system.” He directed the EPA to ensure that implementation of the rule “proceed in a cost-effective manner that ensures electric reliability.”
Some in the industry wanted a longer delay to ensure that the combination of power plants retiring and those shutting down temporarily to install pollution control equipment would not affect reliability. But even the chair of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the independent body that ensures electric reliability, did not see evidence for a blanket extension.
An Associated Press survey of 55 power plants producers found that more than 32 mostly coal-fired power plants in a dozen states would retire because of the regulation issued Wednesday, and another rule aimed at reducing pollution downwind from power plants. The survey found, however, that the power plant retirements alone wouldn’t cause homes to go dark. Another 36 power plants may have to shut down because it would be cheaper than complying with the rule. The estimated age of the units retiring or at risk was 51 years.
Coal, an Ohio power mainstay, will remain under increasing pressure because of low natural gas prices and lackluster demand for electricity. Two other federal environmental regulations in the works to address cooling water intakes and coal ash disposal could lead to more power plant retirements, according to experts.
Ohio environmental groups and others swiftly praised the ruling Wednesday. “Today President Obama stood up to the polluters and protected kids’ health,” said Julian Boggs, state policy advocate with Environment Ohio. “This landmark achievement reflects what every parent knows, which is that powering our homes should not poison Ohio’s kids.”
Boggs, calling power plants the largest single source of mercury pollution in the U.S., said exposure to mercury and other air toxics is linked to cancer, heart disease, neurological damage, birth defects, asthma attacks and premature death.
“Cleaner, healthier air will save lives,” said Shelly Kiser of the American Lung Association in Ohio. “The standards will help protect children, seniors and people with chronic lung diseases like asthma.”
Rashay Layman, Beyond Coal Organizer of the Ohio Sierra Club, said that “each year, more than 300,000 American babies are born exposed to dangerous levels of mercury. Now, after decades of delay, we have the first-ever nationwide protections against this toxic pollutant. These strong, sensible safeguards will slash mercury pollution from power plants by more than 90 percent and improve the air quality for millions of Americans in Ohio and across the country.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report
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