Cooperation in the air: PISCES shows how industry and regulators can work together
When the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 (CAAA) were enacted, electric utilities were not the primary target of its air toxics provisions. Instead, Congress directed the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to evaluate possible health risks that result from utilities emitting chemicals from a laundry list of 189 possible hazardous air pollutants. If Congress elects to regulate toxic utility air emissions on the basis of EPA findings, the financial implications for utilities could be enormous. A worst-case scenario could require the retrofit of scrubbers to remove so-called [open quotes]volatile species[close quotes] (such as hydrochloric acid and mercury) and baghouses or high-efficiency electrostatic precipitators to remove semi-volatile trace metals. The cost could be as much as $8 billion a year over what the industry will spend on CAAA SO[sub 2] and NO[sub x] compliance. The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) and its utility advisors anticipated increased scrutiny of air toxics and related aqueous and solid waste streams, and began a project in 1988 called Power Plant Integrated Systems: Chemical Emissions Studies (PISCES). PISCES is designed to determine to what extent power plants emit compounds in trace quantities, and will provide quantitative emissions data to develop and validate a series of atmospheric transformation and health risk models. PISCES information is already proving useful in addressing specific CAAA issues. It also provides a foundation for informing and communicating with regulators and the public about the basis for, and implications of, utility management decisions.
- OSTI ID:
- 6477196
- Journal Information:
- Public Utilities Fortnightly; (United States), Journal Name: Public Utilities Fortnightly; (United States) Vol. 131:11; ISSN PUFNAV; ISSN 0033-3808
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
296000* -- Energy Planning & Policy-- Electric Power
AIR POLLUTION
AIR POLLUTION ABATEMENT
AIR POLLUTION CONTROL
CHALCOGENIDES
CHLORINE COMPOUNDS
CLEAN AIR ACTS
CONTROL
COST
ELECTRIC UTILITIES
ELEMENTS
EPRI
HALOGEN COMPOUNDS
HYDROCHLORIC ACID
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
INORGANIC ACIDS
LAWS
MERCURY
METALS
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
NITROGEN COMPOUNDS
NITROGEN OXIDES
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
POLLUTION
POLLUTION ABATEMENT
POLLUTION CONTROL
POLLUTION LAWS
POLLUTION REGULATIONS
PUBLIC RELATIONS
PUBLIC UTILITIES
REGULATIONS
RESEARCH PROGRAMS
SULFUR COMPOUNDS
SULFUR DIOXIDE
SULFUR OXIDES
US EPA
US ORGANIZATIONS