Even more good news for your Earth Week: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced a suite of final rules to reduce pollution from fossil fuel-fired power plants in order to protect all communities from pollution and improve public health without disrupting the delivery of reliable electricity. The suite of final rules includes: A final rule for existing coal-fired and new natural gas-fired power plants that would ensure that all coal-fired plants that plan to run in the long-term and all new baseload gas-fired plants control 90 percent of their carbon pollution. A final rule strengthening and updating the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS) for coal-fired power plants, tightening the emissions standard for toxic metals by 67 percent and finalizing a 70 percent reduction in the emissions standard for mercury from existing lignite-fired sources. A final rule to reduce pollutants discharged through wastewater from coal-fired power plants by more than 660 million pounds per year, ensuring cleaner water for affected communities, including communities with environmental justice concerns that are disproportionately impacted. A final rule that will require the safe management of coal ash that is placed in areas that were unregulated at the federal level until now, including at previously used disposal areas that may leak and contaminate groundwater. GASP today lauded the announcement. “These rules will make real strides in cutting climate pollution and protecting public health and our environment. We thank EPA for responding to the urgent need for climate action,” GASP Executive Director Patrick Campbell said. “This is a much-needed step forward in cleaning up our air and water - especially in communities living in the shadow of fossil fuel plants. The rule addresses existing coal-fired power plants, which continue to be the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions from the power sector, and ensures that new natural gas combustion turbines, some of the largest new sources of greenhouse gasses being built today, are designed using modern technologies to reduce climate pollution. The climate and health benefits of this rule substantially outweigh the compliance costs. In 2035 alone, the regulatory impact analysis estimates substantial health co-benefits including: Up to 1,200 avoided premature deaths 870 avoided hospital and emergency room visits 1,900 avoided cases of asthma onset 360,000 avoided cases of asthma symptoms 48,000 avoided school absence days 57,000 lost workdays The final emission standards and guidelines will achieve substantial reductions in carbon pollution at reasonable cost. The best system of emission reduction for the longest-running existing coal units and most heavily utilized new gas turbines is based on carbon capture and sequestration/storage (CCS) – an available and cost-reasonable emission control technology that can be applied directly to power plants and can reduce 90 percent of carbon dioxide emissions from the plants. The standard also requires states to provide transparent data on compliance pathways and timelines through the state planning process, ensuring that workers and communities have the best-available information to plan for changes in the sector. To view the fact sheet for this rulemaking visit EPA's Greenhouse Gas Standards and Guidelines for Fossil Fuel-Fired Power Plants webpage. We also wanted to highlight that the EPA is strengthening and updating the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS) for coal-fired power plants, achieving important hazardous air pollutant (HAP) emissions reductions and ensuring that the standards reflect the latest advancement in pollution control technologies. EPA projects the final rule will reduce emissions of mercury and non-mercury metal HAPs, such as nickel, arsenic, and lead. Controlling these emissions from power plants improves public health for all Americans by reducing the risk of fatal heart attacks, cancer, developmental delays in children, and also reduces adverse environmental impacts. The final rule will also result in substantial co-benefits, including reductions in emissions of fine particulate matter, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and carbon dioxide nationwide. The final rule reduces the mercury emissions limit by 70 percent for lignite-fired units and reduces the emissions limit that controls for toxic metals by 67 percent for all coal plants—while also requiring the use of continuous emission monitoring systems to provide real-time, accurate data to ensure that plants are meeting these lower limits and communities are protected year-round from pollution exposure. EPA's final rule projects $300 million in health benefits and $130 million in climate benefits over the 10-year period from 2028-2037. Editor’s Note: You can read the EPA’s entire press release on the suite of rules here.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today announced the launch of the nearly $1 billion Clean Heavy-Duty Vehicles Grant Program to fund the replacement of certain polluting heavy-duty vehicles with zero-emission vehicles. Funded through the Inflation Reduction Act, EPA will award competitive grants for projects that will: reduce climate and air pollution from heavy-duty vehicles support good-paying jobs and improve air quality for communities across the country, particularly those overburdened by air pollutio The 2024 Clean Heavy-Duty Vehicles Grant Program will support the adoption and deployment of eligible zero-emission vehicles while also funding zero-emission vehicle fueling infrastructure and workforce development and training. Across the nation, more than 3 million such vehicles are currently in use, spanning a wide variety of vehicle types and vocations, including school buses, refuse haulers, and utility and delivery trucks. The Clean Heavy-Duty Vehicles Grant Program will help advance the Justice40 Initiative, which sets the goal that 40% of the overall benefits of certain federal investments in climate, clean energy, and other areas flow to disadvantaged communities overburdened by pollution, including air pollution. Most of the vehicles eligible for replacement are powered by internal combustion engines that pre-date recent EPA emission standards. These vehicles emit harmful pollutants like nitrogen oxide, fine particulate matter, and greenhouse gasses. Pollution from these vehicles is associated with respiratory and cardiovascular disease, among other serious health problems. Children, older adults, those with preexisting cardiopulmonary disease, and those of lower socioeconomic status are particularly vulnerable and are at a higher risk for these health impacts. The implementation of the 2024 Clean Heavy-Duty Vehicles Grant Program is designed to help applicants across the country transition to zero-emission vehicles and reduce air pollution, which will result in improved health outcomes, less noise pollution, and the creation of good-paying clean energy jobs. To meet the needs of diverse potential recipients and encourage participation in this grant opportunity, EPA is providing two separate sub-program competitions under this single Notice of Funding Opportunity: The School Bus Sub-Program for applicants replacing school buses. The Vocational Vehicles Sub-Program for applicants replacing non-school bus Class 6 and 7 vehicles – including box trucks, refuse haulers, dump trucks, street sweepers, delivery trucks, bucket trucks, and utility trucks. EPA anticipates approximately: 70% of available funding will be for projects under the School Bus Sub-Program and approximately 30% of available funding will be for projects under the Vocational Vehicles Sub-Program. Eligible applicants for both competitions include States, municipalities (including school districts), Indian Tribes, territories, and nonprofit school transportation associations. Additionally, the Inflation Reduction Act statute requires that at least $400 million of the program's funding go to projects that will serve one or more communities dealing with significant pollution as defined by EPA's National Ambient Air Quality Standards. This funding opportunity builds on the success of previous programs implemented by EPA, including the historic Diesel Emissions Reduction Act (DERA) program, which reduces harmful emissions from older diesel engines, and the Clean School Bus Program, which funds clean and electric school buses under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Additionally, EPA recently announced the launch of the $3 billion Clean Ports Program to help tackle emissions from ports, including the movement of heavy-duty vehicles both in and out of communities surrounding U.S. ports. “This is such welcome news,” GASP Executive Director Patrick Campbell said. “We know the transportation sector is the single-largest source of greenhouse gas emissions, and a leading source of health-harming air pollution. This investment is part of a paradigm shift that prioritizes our environment and public health and GASP is here for it.” The deadline to apply for the 2024 Clean Heavy-Duty Vehicles Grant Program is July 25, 2024. EPA expects to announce awards by the end of this year. Editor’s Note: To learn more about the program, eligibility, selection process, and informational webinar dates, please visit the Clean Heavy-Duty Vehicles Grant Program webpage.

A little more than a year-and-a-half ago, we blogged about the Clean Data Determination that the U.S Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) made regarding Allegheny County’s attainment of the 2012 National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) for PM2.5. By that determination, EPA confirmed that data from the air quality monitors in Allegheny County showed that all areas of the county met the 2012 NAAQS for fine particulate matter. Following EPA’s clean data determination, ACHD submitted a formal request that the county at long last be reclassified as attainment for the 2012 NAAQS for PM2.5. Then, at the latest Air Pollution Advisory Committee meeting April 15, the Allegheny County Health Department (ACHD) said it plans to withdraw that request. And it’s not because pollution in the county has worsened enough to prevent attainment, but because of EPA’s recent decision to revise that NAAQS downward, from 12 micrograms per cubic meter (µg/m3) to 9 µg/m3. Although all areas of the county have attained the 12 µg/m3 standard for several years, it appears that ACHD’s air quality monitors near U.S. Steel’s Clairton Coke Works do not attain the new 9 µg/m3 standard. What are the implications of ACHD’s decision to withdraw its request for an attainment designation? They are not likely to be significant. Some background about the Clean Air Act might be helpful for understanding why: It requires that all areas in the United States be classified as being in attainment or nonattainment of each NAAQS. The state, local, and tribal agencies that administer the air pollution laws in areas that are nonattainment for a particular NAAQS must submit plans to EPA that generally include tighter controls on pollution sources that are designed to bring the areas into attainment of the NAAQS and special rules for new major sources of air pollution in or impacting the area. “All existing requirements related to nonattainment of the NAAQS for PM2.5 must remain on the books pending EPA’s formal reclassification of the county to attainment; as a practical matter, such requirements remain on the books even after an attainment designation because they are necessary to keep the area in attainment,” GASP senior attorney John Baillie explained. So, this means that ACHD’s withdrawal of its request for an attainment designation will maintain the status quo. The existing air pollution rules and regulations in Allegheny County will remain in force and any new major sources of PM2.5 in or impacting Allegheny County will continue to be subject to stricter pre-construction permitting rules that pertain to nonattainment area (although we are not aware that any such sources are proposed). “This will be the case until ACHD develops, and then implements, any new rules that are needed to attain the revised 9 µg/m3 standard,” Baillie said. “The development and implementation of any such rules will occur over the upcoming years not months; it is even possible - at least theoretically - that ACHD’s air quality monitors will measure attainment of the revised NAAQS by the time EPA makes attainment designations for it, which could eliminate the need for more controls.” In the meantime, we’ll continue to follow developments that flow from the revision of the NAAQS for PM2.5 and keep you posted on them here. Stay tuned.