Title from title screen (viewed on Jan. 16, 2014).
"June 1998."
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references.
Access
APPROVED FOR PUBLIC RELEASE.
Summary
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has proposed a rule that requires 22 eastern states and the District of Columbia to reduce their emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx), the principal component of smog. The aim of that rule--sometimes referred to as the Ozone Transport Rule-is to help areas meet the Clean Air Act's National Ambient Air Quality Standard for ground-level ozone in a cost-effective way. Wind patterns frequently carry ozone and its precursor chemicals (including NOx) long distances, a process called ozone transport. Thus, reductions in NOx emissions throughout the multistate region could help reduce ozone concentrations in many counties and metropolitan areas that violate the standard. EPA estimates that the proposed Ozone Transport Rule will cost sources of NOx emissions approximately $1.8 billion a year. The electric power industry is expected to bear 75 percent of that cost and other stationary sources the remaining 25 percent. The estimated cost to the electric power industry assumes that the required cuts in NOx emissions are made through a regionwide program in which states distribute emission allowances to sources Of NOx emissions, and those sources can buy, sell, or trade the allowances among themselves. The total number of allowances is subject to a limit, or cap. States decide whether to participate in the program and also select the NOx sources they want to include in it.
