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EPA Sets First New Coal Pollution Limits in Nearly 40 Years

1 year ago
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For the first time in four decades, the Environmental Protection Agency set a new health standard limiting the amount of sulfur dioxide pollution that coal-fired power plants and other industries can spew from smokestacks.

The agency also changed its rules to require more monitors in areas that have high amounts of sulfur dioxide, a pollutant that worsens asthma and causes other respiratory problems, McClatchey reported.

Plants would be limited to putting out 75 parts per billion over a one-hour period, according to the new EPA rule suggested by an independent panel of scientists. It's the first time the rule has been changed since the original one was issued in 1971.


The standard is intended to protect people who go outdoors from short-term exposures; scientists say breathing even small amounts of sulfur dioxide could create health problems, especially for children, asthmatics and older people. The rule was slightly less strict than the advocacy groups Clean Air Watch and the American Lung Association had wanted.

A spokesman for Edison Electric Institute, a power industry group, called the new standard "very stringent."

The EPA is in the process of tightening controls on other air pollutants from coal and other fossil fuels. The agency is expected to issue a final rule tightening the regulation of ozone, or smog, at the end of the summer, according to McClatchey.

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Michael

Sulfur dioxide limits are defensible; carbon dioxide limits much less so, as carbon dioxide is often more beneficial than detrimental as opposed to sulfur dioxide, which is more noxious.
Cap-and-trade legislation contemplated by the left would be catastrophic for my state and my family budget. Educate yourselves, Americans, and understand the fundamentals of the energy economy and its implications for your job, your freedom, and your mobility.

June 05 2010 at 9:30 PM Report abuse +1 rate up rate down Reply
lolattoadies

President Obama - working hard to keep all manufacturing and industry off US shores - unemployment be damned.

June 05 2010 at 4:14 PM Report abuse +5 rate up rate down Reply
forrestoak

EPA does it again. This will cause more jobs to move overseas. At least the unemployed in the US can breathe a little easier.

June 05 2010 at 2:21 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
muffin83e

Good news for health, bad news for the cost of electric bills.

June 05 2010 at 9:43 AM Report abuse +6 rate up rate down Reply
altollew

better have a little "how do I identify a coal burning power plant" for your picture editor.

June 05 2010 at 8:43 AM Report abuse +4 rate up rate down Reply
ca2474

they should be ashamed of the oil spill in the gulf right now...but these folks have no heart what so ever...

June 05 2010 at 5:37 AM Report abuse +2 rate up rate down Reply
jancf

Good news...bad for fossil fuels, good spur to research & investment in newer, better ones in competition with those of other nations....and incalculable benefits to health...and health care costs.

June 04 2010 at 9:51 PM Report abuse -16 rate up rate down Reply
Big Daddy

I got a better idea. Why don't we make the air unbreathable, the water undrinkable, clearcut all the forests, level the mountains for coal, kill the gulf of mexico, and kill off all the species that don't serve our monetary purpose. Now that we've done all these great things let's complain that the deficit is robbing our grandchildrens future which will be much better if daddy made a fortune rapping the planet.

June 04 2010 at 9:07 PM Report abuse -18 rate up rate down Reply
sysaphus71

Yeah,
that's great....now who is going to tell the Chinese the good news.
It has been reported that as much as one third of air pollution on the west coast stems from China.
Just one more nail in the economy by the bureaucrats who will still get a pay check long after their damage is felt across our country....you know us peons in fly over country.

June 04 2010 at 8:24 PM Report abuse +15 rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to sysaphus71's comment
wolfsonnydiane

China is rapidly getting rid of its carbon based use . China is farter along in getting away from carbon based energy than we are.

June 05 2010 at 8:42 PM Report abuse -2 rate up rate down Reply
jetdevil68

Nothing in the world like a $300 electric bill, we should be so enthusiastic about these new standards!

If you think the economy is slow now, just wait until our minimal disposable income is gobbled up by "skyrocketing" energy rates. Pure genius to slam coal fired power plants out of the gate instead of gradual regulation.

EPA= Energy Penalized Altogether

June 04 2010 at 7:47 PM Report abuse +19 rate up rate down Reply

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