The Change Mariner

New pollution rule would help energy industry continue pollution levels

Seattle PI.com

After more than two years of internal deliberation and intense pressure from industry, the Bush administration has settled on a regulation that would allow thousands of older power plants, oil refineries and industrial units to make extensive upgrades without having to install new anti-pollution devices, according to those involved in the deliberations.

...The exemption would allow industrial plants to continue to emit hundreds of thousands of tons of pollutants into the atmosphere and could save the companies millions if not billions of dollars in pollution-equipment costs, even if they increase the amounts of pollutants they emit.

...The current rule requires plant owners to install pollution-control devices if they undertake anything more than "routine maintenance" on their plants. Industries have long complained that this standard was too vague and that it hindered substantial investment in cleaner, more efficient equipment.

The new rule says that as much as 20 percent of the cost of replacing a plant's essential production equipment -- a boiler, generator or turbine -- could be spent and the owner would still be exempt from installing any pollution controls, according to people involved in the deliberations.

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