EPA to unveil final Clean Air transport rule next week

The Environmental Protection Agency will unveil its final Clean Air transport rule next week, the agency’s top air official said Thursday.

The agency’s proposed regulations, unveiled last year, would require power plants in 31 eastern states to reduce sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions that move from one state to another.

The proposed rule, in conjunction with other regulations, will reduce SO2 emissions by 71 percent and NOx emissions by 52 percent below 2005 levels by 2014, according to EPA.

Gina McCarthy, assistant administrator at EPA’s Office of Air and Radiation, said Thursday at a subcommittee hearing of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee that the benefits of the regulations greatly outweigh the costs.

“They will dramatically improve public health, they are affordable and they are technologically achievable,” McCarthy said.

McCarthy said EPA will unveil the final transport rule next week. She added that the agency is slated to unveil ozone standards in July.