November 10, 2010
Contact:
Virginia Cramer, 804-519-8449
EPA Issues New Clean Air Act Guidance
Provides Road Map for Reducing Global Warming Pollution
Washington, D.C.: The Environmental Protection Agency today issued the latest in several steps to reduce harmful global warming pollution. Since a 2007 Supreme Court ruling required the EPA to regulate harmful greenhouse gases, the agency has been working to craft rules and guidelines to help states and businesses clean up pollution—targeting the largest pollution sources first with the Tailoring Rule and today issuing guidance to help those large sources determine the best existing technologies to reduce emissions (Best Available Control Technology, or BACT).
In response Bruce Nilles, Sierra Club Deputy Conservation Director issued the following statement:
"What we're seeing today, and have seen throughout this process, is the EPA working with businesses and states to clean up our air in ways that have been proven effective, simple to implement and economically viable. This process has been successfully used for decades to help reduce other types of air pollution and has resulted in cleaner air for the breathing public.
"Today's guidance encourages a consistent process that will help minimize pollution in cost-effective ways. It is not a one-size-fits-all standard, but rather, calls for pollution-reducing controls for each facility, taking into account what is achievable, as well as economically feasible.
The standard will evolve as pollution reduction technologies develop and become cheaper to implement. That means that new facilities and those making major upgrades can take advantage of advances made by other facilities to reduce their pollution even more effectively."
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