Businesses are concerned with proposed deadlines and the budget in the final draft.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) sent its final plan for smog and soot regulation to the White House this week, where the Office of Management and Budget will review the plan and give their final ruling on the proposed plan by March 23.
This final draft proposes upgrading all U.S. power plant engines and pipelines with new technology to greatly reduce the amount of nitrogen oxides (NOx) they produce. NOx is a particularly poisonous group of pollutants that create smog, acid rain, and a number of respiratory illnesses in humans.
Though reducing NOx output would benefit public health, energy companies are concerned with the tight deadline proposed by the EPA’s current plan. The proposal calls for completed power plant upgrades by 2026.
“It would likely take at least until 2045 to implement the (EPA’s proposal) across all of the engines that currently exceed the proposed emissions limits,” energy company Kinder Morgan Inc. said. The company also said the EPA’s proposed budget is unrealistic, estimating that the actual cost to complete this effort is at least 16 times more than the EPA’s current estimate.
As the Lord Leads, Pray with Us…
- For Administrator Regan and EPA officials as they set standards to reduce pollution.
- For Director Shalanda Young as she heads the Office of Management and Budget.
Sources: Reuters
