This Rule will K(NOx)ck Your SOx Off – EPA Proposes New Clean Air Rule
On July 6, 2010, the USEPA proposed a new interstate transport of ozone and fine particulate rule for power plants. The goal of the rule is to achieve by 2014 a 72% reduction of sulfur dioxide (SO2) and a 54% reduction of oxides of nitrogen (NOx) from 2005 levels.
The tri state area, like most of the states east of the Mississippi, is covered by this rule for both fine particulates and ozone. The sulfur and nitrogen oxides are fine particulates in the air.
EPA estimates an annual savings of between 120 and 290 billion dollars as well as saving between 14,000 and 36,000 premature deaths. The annual estimated compliance cost is 2.8 billion dollars.
Compliance will undoubtedly require more burning of natural gas instead of or in addition to coal and oil, a fact that makes the Marcellus Shale, with its estimated 168 trillion to 516 trillion cubic feet of natural gas a more valuable commodity.