The rule would be a lifesaver. Philadelphia, Harrisburg, Allegheny County, and Beaver County are on the American Lung Association's list of 25 U.S. locales with the worst air quality. The EPA projects that in 2014, the rule will prevent up to 3,600 premature deaths in Pennsylvania alone, while also reducing heart attacks, emergency-room visits, asthma, and other respiratory illnesses. The annual health benefits will amount to between $7 billion and $29 billion.
With the transport rule in place, all but two of Pennsylvania's counties would meet current standards for ground-level ozone and fine-particle pollution.
How? The rule would cut millions of tons of emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides by requiring power plants to use readily available pollution-control technology. Within Pennsylvania, 67 plants are affected by this proposed rule.
The EPA is working to provide a coordinated approach so that states will no longer have to petition the agency to stop harmful emissions from crossing into their states. Using the authority of the "good neighbor" provision of the Clean Air Act, the transport rule and other actions would reduce power plants' emissions of sulfur dioxide by 71 percent and nitrogen oxides by 52 percent. In addition, the EPA will soon finalize standards for ozone that will lead to a second proposed transport rule in 2011.
This rule marks a major step forward in cleaning up the air we breathe, and it will have real benefits for the people of Pennsylvania and their fellow Americans.
Shawn M. Garvin is the mid-Atlantic regional administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency. For more information and to comment on the proposed rule, see www.epa.gov/airtransport.
