Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, December 28, 1994 TAG: 9412290016
SECTION: EDITORIALS PAGE: A-11 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOHN A. AHLADAS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
On Jan. 1, the requirements of federal Clean Air Act amendments begin taking effect. Congress passed the amendments in the fall of 1990, and during the last four years, government and industry have spent many hours developing plans to implement the law's mandates. Among the major provisions of the amendments are requirements that sulfur dioxide emissions be cut in half nationally by the year 2000. Other requirements call for a reduction in nitrogen oxide emissions by 2 million tons annually. Both goals, to be implemented in two phases, are ambitious and challenging.
Unlike so many environmental laws, however, the revised Clean Air Act is no mere bureaucratic command-and-control exercise. It enlists market forces to protect the environment. It acknowledges that air quality goals are more likely to be met if government and industry have flexibility in attaining those objectives. And it recognizes that pollution borne by the wind has no boundaries; the effort to reduce emissions and preserve environmentally sensitive areas must be developed on a regional, and even a national, basis.
This regional approach is especially important for Virginia. For years, environmental scientists have said that many of the emissions affecting the Old Dominion are generated hundreds of miles away. Prevailing winds blow the emissions from west to east, where they cross the Blue Ridge and play a major role in the environmental health of Shenandoah National Park.
The act does require Virginia utilities to do their part to curtail emissions. Virginia Power, for example, has installed a $140 million scrubber system that will reduce sulfur dioxide emissions from our Mount Storm, W.Va., plant by as much as 50,000 tons per year. The scrubber will be operational by Jan. 1 to enable the company to comply with Phase I of the Clean Air Act amendments and will improve air quality along the Blue Ridge and in Shenandoah National Park.
But even more important, the Phase I requirements target dozens of power plants to the north, south and west of Virginia. The reductions in emissions from these facilities, some as far away as the Midwest, should play a major role in lessening acid rain and other air-quality problems in Virginia's mountains.
Conditions will improve even more after Jan. 1, 2000, when Phase II of the act will require additional steps to reduce sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions. There is no question that the goals in the act will be met - the Environmental Protection Agency has sweeping powers to enforce these provisions. But the law also gives industries and utilities the flexibility to find the most cost-effective way to comply with the sulfur dioxide standards and protect air quality.
Virginia Power is evaluating its options for Phase II compliance. We may install two additional scrubbers at Mount Storm. That option was the most economical way for us to meet the first phase requirements. But Virginia Power and all other utilities also have the ability to comply through the acquisition of allowances, which, in effect, pay other sources to reduce their emissions. Because some companies have elected to over-comply with the act's reduction requirements, they may recover some of the costs of their cleanup programs by selling extra "credits," or allowances, to other firms. The holder of an allowance is permitted to discharge 1 ton of sulfur dioxide over a one-year period.
A vigorous allowance trading market recently has developed under the regulation of the EPA. Market forces recently have driven down allowance prices, making the credits more attractive. Other options, such as switching to coal with lower sulfur content, are also available to utilities.
Even with this flexibility, the act's bottom line remains the same: Throughout the nation, sulfur dioxide emissions will be reduced by one-half before the turn of the century. Since pollution, borne by the wind, knows no boundaries, this dramatic national reduction will ensure that better air quality comes to Virginia and its treasured mountains.
The range of compliance options helps assure that utilities will be able to continue to offer energy to their customers at reasonable prices. This cost-effective approach will promote both economic growth and better air quality. The framers of the amendments were foresighted enough to realize that a top-down, "one-size-fits-all" strategy would drive up energy prices and damage the economy.
And in the end, such an approach would almost certainly undermine environmental progress.
John A. Ahladas of Montpelier is senior vice president-corporate services for Virginia Power.
by CNB