Regulacje i polityka gospodarcza · 28.09.1998

Acid Rain Program: 1998 Reallocation of Allowances

Title IV of the Clean Air Act, as amended by the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990, (``the Act'') authorizes the Environmental Protection Agency (``EPA'' or ``Agency'') to establish the Acid Rain Program. The purpose of the Acid Rain Program is to reduce significantly emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides from electric generating plants in order to reduce the adverse health and ecological impacts of acidic deposition (or acid rain) resulting from such emissions. On March 23, 1993, the Agency promulgated a final rule (``1993 rule'') allocating allowances to utility units. That rule provided the methodology for revising the allocation of allowances for utility units in 1998, as required by Title IV. On December 27, 1996, the Agency proposed changes (``1996 proposal'') to unadjusted allowances for certain units. These changes were proposed to respond to litigation over the Agency's interpretation of section 405(c) of the Act, to correct documented Agency errors in making the allocations, and to incorporate more recent information on whether or not certain new units met requirements pertaining to their construction or commencement of commercial operation. On January 7, 1998, t