EPA cracks down on Texas power plants

HOUSTON -- Texas power plants will have to significantly reduce ozone- and acid-rain causing pollution under new federal rules, a move that could further increase tensions between the state and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency just as Republican Gov. Rick Perry considers a presidential run.

The long-running battle between Texas and the EPA evolved from one over environmental regulation into a tiff over states' rights. During his recent gubernatorial campaign, Perry often used the federal agency's rule-making as an example of the Obama administration meddling in state affairs.

The rules announced Thursday will require Texas plants to significantly reduce smog and acid-rain causing pollutants beginning next year. Texas had already opposed an initial, weaker proposal, so the more stringent rules angered local regulators, lawmakers and the Perry administration.

Texas argues that the new rules would require massive improvements to old power plants, changes that would end up costing consumers more money. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, the state's regulatory agency, also questions the science upon which the EPA has built its rules.

"Today's EPA announcement is another example of heavy-handed and misguided action from Washington, D.C., that threatens Texas jobs and families and puts at risk the reliable and affordable electricity our state needs to succeed," Perry said in a statement.

Perry, who has kept up a busy travel schedule and attacks on Washington as he considers a run for the White House, said the Obama administration seems intent on increasing energy costs for consumers and making Americans more dependent on foreign energy.

"Texas will keep standing up to this destructive federal overreach, and working to enhance environmental protection and domestic energy exploration and production," he added.

The idea behind the rule is to reduce airborne pollution that crosses state lines and combines with locally produced pollution, making it difficult -- and even impossible sometimes -- for states to comply with federal regulations. Texas is one of 27 states that will have to reduce both smog and acid-rain causing pollutants, namely sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide.

Texas has 19 coal-fired power plants, more than any other state. Faced with a looming population boom that could double the number of state residents in the next 20 years, Texas plans to build nine more such plants.

Al Armendariz, the EPA administrator who oversees Texas, says Texas pollution is harming Illinois, Michigan and Louisiana. At the same time, pollution transported from Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Missouri harms residents in the Lone Star State. Armendariz said the rule is aimed at helping all residents, and the EPA believes it will prevent between 670 and 1,700 premature deaths in Texas alone.

Nationally, the EPA believes the rules will reduce sulfur dioxide emissions by 73 percent by 2014 compared to 2005 levels, and bring down nitrogen oxide pollution by 54 percent.

The EPA also said its cost analysis found even the oldest plants have a variety of options available that would not result in significant cost increases to consumers. Armendariz said the power plants can look at using lower-sulfur coals or installing "scrubbers," emission-reducing equipment.

"There are cost-effective compliance options for the power plants that are achievable without reductions in reliability and without significant costs to consumers," Armendariz said.

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality,
though, believes the rules "will result in significant increases in the cost of power as well as curtailment or shutdowns of existing coal-fired plants in Texas."

It said other sources of electricity will not compensate for that, especially given the January compliance date. The agency also insisted pollution from power plants in Texas do not harm other downwind states.

Neil Carman, a chemist with the Sierra Club's Lone Star chapter, believes the new rules could be an opportunity for Texas to move away from "old" energy and replace the heavy polluters with wind and solar energy.

"They're just like old cars, you can't run them forever," Carman said of the older coal-fired plants.