EPA has announced that it will move forward in publishing a proposed rule to guide states in setting "best available retrofit technology" (BART) requirements to comply with new Regional Haze standards.  The proposal was approved on Jan. 12 by then-EPA Administrator Carol Browner, but current Administrator Whitman was reviewing that decision to see if EPA should change course.   It is now clear that EPA intends to move forward.   The compliance deadline will be around 2008, but companies will be making decisions in the shorter-term about installing technologies or other compliance strategies.

The BART requirements will primarily affect coal utilities as well as industrial boilers, refiners and steel plants built between 1962 and 1977.   While the rule will apply nationwide to facilities affecting national park areas, the main target of the rule were sources in Western U.S. states affecting visibility in the Grand Canyon.

In addition to technology requirements, an emissions trading program could become part of the compliance regime for the Western states, but only if the BART requirements are not providing the targeted reductions.

The AP story below provides a good summary of the rule.  Or if you're really adventurous, you can access the original 148-page proposed rule at: http://www.epa.gov/ttn/oarpg/t1/fr_notices/bartrule.pdf

Please call if you have any questions regarding the regulations or the impact on Enron businesses or customers.

Note -- I have included you on Environmental Strategies' current distribution list for "Regional Haze".  If you would like to be removed, or if others in your area should be added, please let me know.

Jeffrey Keeler
Director, Environmental Strategies
Enron
Washington DC office - (202) 466-9157
Cell Phone (203) 464-1541

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EPA Adopts Rule to Cut Haze in Parks
By JOHN HEILPRIN, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Bush administration will not challenge a proposal
approved in the last days of the Clinton presidency to clean up hazy skies
over national parks and wilderness areas, Environmental Protection Agency
Administrator Christie Whitman said Tuesday.

The proposed rule, requiring states to impose pollution controls on
hundreds of older power plants, was approved by President Clinton eight
days before he left office. It would require coal-fired utilities,
industrial boilers, refineries and iron and steel plants built between 1962
and 1977 to be retrofitted with new pollution-control technology by 2013.

However, some could meet the requirements by swapping pollution credits,
which companies can earn and trade by reducing their overall emissions.

``Part of the President's commitment to protecting national parks includes
protecting the views that draw us to these parks year after year,'' Whitman
said. ``We intend to clear that air. This rule will help ensure that people
will be able to see and appreciate these national treasures for many years
to come.''

That would cut sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide and particulate matter and
directly improve the air in 156 national parks and wilderness areas, the
EPA said. Haze is caused when light hits tiny particles, such as soot,
sulfur dioxide or nitrogen oxide emitted by power plants, refineries or
natural pollution sources, such as forest fires.

Whitman said the visibility in some national parks, like the Great Smoky
Mountains, is reduced by as much as 80 percent on the haziest days.

Environmentalists said Tuesday they worried the administration still might
try to delay or weaken the Clinton-era proposal before a final rule is
issued. The proposed rule already was studied by several federal agencies
under former President Clinton.

``The concern is that the White House or the Office of Management and
Budget or the utility industry would push for a weakening of the more
aggressive approach reflected in the Clinton proposal,'' said John Walke,
director of clean air programs for the Natural Resources Defense Council.

Meanwhile, a group of utility companies has been fighting in federal court
for the past two years to block the EPA's regional haze program.

The proposed rule, amending part of EPA's 1999 regional haze rule, tells
states which of the older industrial facilities that emit more than 250
tons of view-impairing pollutants annually must install ``best available
retrofit technology.''

But it also gives states flexibility to consider economic factors, energy
impacts and the remaining useful life of the facility. The new requirements
also could be met through an emissions trading plan similar to one used in
EPA's acid rain program, giving states that take this option more time
beyond 2013 to comply.

States that affect the air quality of the Grand Canyon - Arizona,
California, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah and Wyoming -
also would get different time frames to work with, the EPA said.

In Western states, the pollution cuts a 140-mile view down to 33 to 90
miles on average, the EPA said. In the East, 90-mile views often are
reduced to 14 to 24 miles on average.