Mercury

Clean Air Rules: A New Roadmap for the Power Sector

How new market-based regulations fit with today’s programs.

What do the Clean Air Interstate Rule, the Clean Air Mercury Rule, and the Clean Air Visibility Rule require of the power sector? Authors from the Environmental Protection Agency review implementation progress.

Why You Should Care About CAIR

New provisions nearly eliminate the financial impacts of the rule’s ozone regulations.

As of 2009, annual caps on NOx emissions imposed by the Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR) nearly will eliminate the financial impacts of CAIR’s ozone provisions. What does this mean for your utility?

The Top 10 Utility Tech Challenges

Innovation must play a key role in each company.

An EPRI vice president cites areas of concern in each part of the electricity value chain. How can IOUs overcome the formidable difficulties ahead of them?

Defining the New Policy Conflicts

Failing to address and adapt to the new ratemaking realities could result in increased costs for the economy.

The approaching 100th anniversary of regulation by public utility commissions in the United States calls for some reflection. How much have things changed, and how much have they stayed the same?

Wind and the Environment: The EPA's Tech Divide

Does the Clean Air Act require the agency to consider the most low-emission coal plant technologies in permitting new plants?

Why doesn’t its interpretation of the Clean Air Act consider the most low-emission coal plant technologies?

Clearing the Air On Emissions

How utilities can take a portfolio-management approach to environmental compliance.

In March 2005, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued the final Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR) and Clean Air Mercury Rule (CAMR). Assessing the impact that these and other environmental policies have on the whole organization reveals implications for the corporate process at all levels.

EPA's Big Bet on Green Trading

Environmental Emissions: The cost to power markets of the Clean Air Interstate Rule depends on the ability to trade mercury.

The decision to limit mercury provides cover for utilities reluctant to spend on controlling NOx and SO2, while boosting other companies

Mercury: Much Ado About Nothing?

How the Clean Air Mercury Rule will affect coal prices.

The Clean Air Mercury Rule impacts new and existing coal-fired electric generating plants through a market-based cap-and-trade program similar to the EPA’s highly successful Acid Rain Program. The first phase of the program in 2010 reduces mercury emissions to 38 tons. The second phase goes into action in 2018 with a final mercury emissions cap of 15 tons. The key question is: what extent will the new rule reduce coal’s dominance in the electric generation market?

Mercury Rising

How will the EPA's rulemaking affect U.S. energy markets?

How will the EPA's rulemaking affect U.S. energy markets?

With President Bush's Clear Skies program stalled in Congress, it is increasingly unlikely that a multi-pollutant regulatory package will receive congressional approval in the near future. In addition to providing another source of frustration for the Bush administration, the delay also forces the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to propose regulations controlling mercury emissions.

Cape Cod: Twisting in the Wind?

Wind developers face a backlash from citizens.

A proposed offshore wind farm just a few miles from the historic, and tourist-packed, beaches of Cape Cod has sparked citizen opposition.