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US court strikes down EPA’s cross-state air pollution rule
- 12 years ago (2012-08-23)
- Junior Isles
Southern Co., Edison International and other US generators have won their case against the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), gaining more time to upgrade their most polluting coal plants.
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The US Court of Appeals in Washington has struck down the EPA’s cross-state air pollution rule, claiming the agency undermined state authority over air -pollution regulation and imposed more strenuous caps on sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxide than necessary to clean up air pollution.
The cross-state rule was one of several new measures the EPA had introduced to curb pollution from coal-fired power plants. Several others will not be entering into effect as planned since they face legal challenges of their own.
“This really is a black eye for the EPA,” James Lucier, managing director at Capital Alpha Partners LLC, “But for the industry, the critical factor overall has been the low price of natural gas,” which is “the great destroyer.”
“We are willing to move forward to make additional emission reductions, but we believe it can be done in a more reasonable way,” Pat Hemlepp, a spokesman for AEP said.
US coal generators are fighting a losing battle against cheap natural gas, somewhat muting their victory over the regulator.
“At the end of the day the older, dirtier coal plants are going to close,” said Sam Brothwell, a senior utility analyst at Bloomberg Industries. Though, the EPA’s proposed regulations would have rendered highly polluting plants even less competitive than they already are.
American Electric Power Co. fell 46 cents to $42.65 yesterday, after initially rising on the news.
The court’s ruling orders the agency to continue enforcing a similar rule issued in 2005 until a viable replacement can be issued, despite a different panel of appeals court judges in 2008 ordering the EPA to rework that rule, saying it was too weak.
Coal accounts for 98 per cent of sulphur dioxide and 92 per cent of nitrogen oxides released into the air by power plants, according to the EPA.