If you’ve lived through a Charlotte summer in the past few years, we don’t have to tell you how bad the air gets: hazy, thick, yellow, just plain nasty. Not to mention really unhealthy. It’s gotten so bad, and so little apparent progress has been made toward fixing the problem, people tend to turn the other way and not want to think about it.
You know there’s a problem when folks begin to tire of the sheer volume of bad news concerning our environment. It’s true — it seems that almost every month a new report is released alerting us to the dangers of the air we breathe or the water we drink. But even if you’re feeling inundated by environmental bad news, if there’s ever a time to take heed of studies concerning air quality, it’s during the months between May and October, also known as “smog season.”
When the hot summer sun combines with all the noxious compounds being pumped from cars, factories and power plants, it worsens the already unhealthy levels of ground-level ozone, or smog. Suddenly, Grandpa working in the garden, Junior playing Little League baseball, or essentially anyone with respiratory problems doing anything outside — or, on some days, everyone spending a lot of time outside — are placing their health at risk.
Let’s take a hard look at North Carolina’s air quality. Are things getting any better, or should we all buy gas masks this summer instead of shades and sun tan lotion?
Autos and Smokestacks and Cancer, Oh My
There are, as we said, countless studies that discuss this issue. Some of the more recent ones come from the North Carolina Public Interest Research Group (NCPIRG). Earlier this month, the group released Children at Risk, a study which indicated that over 1.1 million children live within a 30-mile radius of North Carolina’s 14 notoriously dirty coal-fired power plants. Of these children, nearly 75,000 suffer from asthma. In another recent study, PIRG noted that NC produced the nation’s sixth-largest increase in power plant pollutants between 1995 and 2000. And this comes on the heels of a March report by the Journal of the American Medical Association which stated that long-term exposure to air pollution ” like soot generated from power plants and car exhaust — greatly increases the risk of lung cancer fatalities. There are countless other studies we could cite that discuss things like our state’s increased asthma attacks, the increased number of deaths attributed to power plant pollution, the increased number of unhealthy summer days, and Charlotte’s alarmingly high ranking among the nation’s dirtiest cities. But you get the idea ” breathing in North Carolina, particular in summertime when the living should be easy, may be dangerous to your health.
The two biggest culprits in our state’s air-pollution problems are ” no big surprise here ” automobile exhaust and power plant emissions, both of which are doing heinous things to the air we breathe. While there is some debate as to which one poses the biggest threat, most seem to agree it’s North Carolina’s 14 coal-fired power plants. (Duke Energy and Carolina Power and Light both own seven). State analysts say these plants produce over 40 percent of the ozone-forming nitrogen oxides in Charlotte, and about 70 percent of the state’s sulfur dioxide, a source of haze, fine particulate matter and acid rain.
The EPA has deemed this problem so severe that they filed charges against Duke Power in 2000, citing over 50 violations of the Clean Air Act. The EPA’s lawsuit claims that Duke failed to install modern pollution control devices ” as stipulated by the Clean Air Act — when they “embarked on a program of modifications.” Duke Power is fighting the lawsuit, saying the EPA reinterpreted the language in the Clean Air Act, and that they acted within state and federal regulations, although they don’t deny that their older plants create more pollution. The case is still tied up in the courts.
The biggest measure currently addressing North Carolina’s air quality woes is the Clean Smokestacks Act. This proposed legislation calls for NC power plants to reduce sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide and mercury emissions from its coal-fired power plants by about 70 percent over the next decade. These emission reductions are in addition to the state’s Environment Management Commission (EMC) regulations adopted last year, which require about a two-thirds reduction in the nitrogen oxide emissions from coal-fired power plants and other industries by 2006. Unlike the EMC regulations, which apply only during the summer months, the Clean Smokestacks Act would require reductions year round. Utilities are expected to make these emission reductions by installing giant structures called scrubbers, which will strip much of the ozone-forming gases from the plant’s exhaust. Duke is already in the process of installing these structures at some of their plants, including their Cliffside location, west of Charlotte in Rutherford County.
The NC Senate passed the Clean Smokestacks Act in April 2000. Since then — more than two years — it has been stuck in the House Utilities Committee as the utility companies, politicians and environmental groups tried to work out a compromise on its specifics. One of the biggest points of contention has been over the costs involved in implementing the legislation’s new pollution controls, which are expected to exceed $2 billion. It had been estimated that the legislation would have resulted in an increase of about $3 dollars per month in residential customers’ bills, and an average increase of about six percent for industrial customers which, as you might expect, had the big power users crying foul.
In late April, Gov. Mike Easley announced that an agreement had been reached among the utilities, state officials and environmentalists to achieve the new emission standards while keeping Duke Power’s current electric rates frozen for five years. While the details of this agreement are still unclear, the plan allows Duke Power to recover most of the costs necessary to achieve the emission targets without increasing base electric rates or adding a cost recovery rider. But this also means that electric rates may not go down for five years, and it’s still not entirely clear whether outside influences could create pressure to raise rates.
It’s important to note that the Clean Smokestacks Act is not yet a law, but a work in progress. All those involved are anxiously waiting to see the specifics of the legislation when the General Assembly reconvenes this week.
“We haven’t seen the legislation yet, it’s all concept,” said Duke Power spokesperson Tom Williams. “We’re fully supportive of the concept, we helped come up with it, and we think it’s a good way to achieve the emission goals within the existing rate structure. But we haven’t seen the fine print, and sometimes the devil is in the details.”
“The legislation is certainly a step in the right direction,” said Scott Gollwitzer, clean air campaign coordinator for Appalachian Voices, located in Asheville, a city that’s experiencing some of the more obvious effects of NC’s air pollution. “I sit in my office and some days I can see the mountains and some days I can’t because the haze is so bad. So I’m keenly aware of the problems. Maybe not everyone can see it as clearly as I can, but you can be certain they’re still suffering from its effects. Industry and personal vehicles certainly pollute the air, but power plants are currently the most viable target ” we can drastically reduce pollution levels with one big push.”
Not So Fast
While many folks feel that this newest piece of clean air legislation is a step in the right direction, others aren’t so sure. Moreover, they’re up in arms over the fact that these older power plants are even in operation, and that NC is now looking to spend billions to fix what they say should have been shut down decades ago. Of the 14 coal-fired power plants in NC, the majority were built between 1940 and 1975. When the Clean Air Act was passed in 1970, it set new and more stringent emission standards. At the time, it was assumed that the older, coal-fired power plants were nearing the end of their life cycle, and would soon be phased out. Therefore, it made no sense to equip them with modern controls. But here we are, 2002, and the plants are still chugging away.
“It makes no sense for North Carolinians to pour their money into patching up these coal-fired dinosaurs,” said Louis Zeller, clean air campaign coordinator for the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League. “We should be putting our money into alternative sources of power that are cleaner and more efficient. This is a billion-dollar windfall for the utilities. Do we want to spend billions fixing up these ancient machines, or do we want to get something that will work in the 21st century? We’re putting a band-aid on something that needs to be scrapped.”
Zeller also objects to some of the provisions and compromises that have been made in drafting the clean air legislation, most notably the cost provisions.
“We were happy when the legislation seemed to pick up the banner of the clean air plan in 2000, but shortly after that it was driven into the ditch through negotiations with Duke Power and CP&L,” Zeller said. “The biggest problem is this five-year, flat-rate cost provision that has been added. There is already a perfectly acceptable rate process through the NC Utilities Commission (a decision-making body that is open to meeting individually with concerned citizens and whose processes of deliberation are public).
“It (the new rate agreement) is obviously a way to sidestep some of the protective measures within the Utilities Commission rate process, and part of yet another concession to buy big industry’s acceptance. What happened in California should warn people about allowing investor-owned utilities to control the rate structure,” Zeller continued. “Many of our cohorts, even within the environmental community, are not looking at the economics of this thing. They’re saying we don’t care what it costs, we just want a clean air bill.”
Another possible sticking point with the Clean Smokestacks Act is the practice of trading or selling “pollution credits.” This is a practice where, to avoid implementing costly restrictions locally, utilities could conceivably buy pollution credits from a utility in another state that has exceeded the minimum requirements. Although earlier drafts of the legislation have put restrictions on this practice and stated that reductions must be achieved within state boundaries, some aren’t so sure.
“Trading pollution credits could be a big problem,” said Gollwitzer of Appalachian Voices. “Sources close to the negotiations say the utilities would like to have their pollution reductions put in such a form that they could trade or sell them, and that poses a serious problem for North Carolina. Odds are if we allow Duke and CP&L to trade and sell those credits, that they’re going to stay in the Southeast. We still suffer a regional air-quality problem because we are downwind from many other polluted states. It all just blows back at us. However, the bill does have a provision in it which would allow NC to actively force other states to get reductions similar to ours, including litigation.”
Yet another source of contention is a provision that was included in the legislation last year calling for the emission reductions to be implemented in two stages ” the first by 2007, and the second by 2013.
Moreover, there was talk of designating the Secretary of Environment and Natural Resources as the arbiter of this two-stage process. Critics of this plan said this would in essence establish a “pollution czar” who would have sole discretion over whether to move forward with the plan’s final phase. Although these particular provisions were part of the legislation that died in the House last year, environmentalists are watching closely to see how this issue is addressed when the legislation is brought back up during the coming weeks.
What’s On The Horizon
With all this attention being focused on NC’s power plants, some are quick to point out that pollution from mobile sources such as cars and trucks is just as bad, if not worse.
“The Clean Smokestacks Act is only a start; it’s not going to cure anything,” said Marty Bergoffen, campaign coordinator for the Southern Appalachian Biodiversity Project. “What we need is a huge push for public transportation. We need a rail line paralleling every single interstate in NC. We need public transportation within cities as well. While we seem to be addressing the power plant problem, we’re not even coming close to addressing the car problem. And if we don’t we’re all doomed. We need to get people off the idea that in order to get anywhere they need a car.”
More people certainly seem to think that way in Charlotte. And with sprawl such a problem, in many cases it’s unfortunately true ” a lot of folks do have to hop in their car just to get a loaf of bread or quart of milk. And yet, despite all the warnings, we’re driving more than ever before. Although Mayor McCrory says that the fruition of Charlotte’s mass transit plan holds great promise for the environment ” the first rail line is scheduled to open in 2006 — currently the situation looks pretty bleak. In March, the Urban Land Institute released a study showing Charlotte was No.7 in the country for vehicle miles traveled. That’s up from No.17 in 1997. And just last week the US Census released data indicating that in many of the counties surrounding Charlotte, three-car families now outnumber one-car families, and drive time for commuters continue to increase.
But as North Carolina Division of Air Quality spokesperson Tom Mather points out, when compared to the millions of cars on the road, power plants are a far more manageable problem to deal with.
“There are 14 coal-fired power plants in North Carolina,” Mather said. “It’s easier to get a big reduction from these 14 plants than to go out and get lots of small reductions from millions of automobiles. Also, manufacturers have taken the automobile’s gasoline engine about as far as it can go. If you compare a car being built today with cars that were built 20 years ago, they’ve cut their emissions by more that 90 percent. Whereas these coal-fired power plants have cut their emissions some, but nowhere near what cars have done.”
While the problem of car and truck pollution seems to be overwhelming — the hybrid electric/gas car still seems to be nowhere near catching on — some headway is being made. In 1999, the General Assembly passed legislation that requires cleaner burning fuel statewide by 2004, and will also expand the number of required car emission inspections from nine counties to 48 by 2006. Locally, Mecklenburg County commissioners recently endorsed the “Breathe” initiative, which calls for a series of air quality improvements, including replacing county vehicles with newer, more efficient models, and developing a plan to reduce energy use at county government facilities.
“The kind of controls that are needed to improve air quality cost a lot of money and take time to put into place,” Mather said. “We’re not going to see changes overnight. While the Clean Smokestacks Act is the biggest thing on the horizon, a lot of controls and regulations have already been passed. They just haven’t had a chance to take effect. But over the next five or 10 years, I think we will see some big improvements in air quality.”
That’s good news for a change. But the improvements, if they’re indeed coming, are still down the road. Or down the railway. In the meantime, though, if you’re tired or even a bit scared of the air quality alerts that fill the media during the hot weather days, and you’re hoping to be able to relax and breathe a little easier this summer, well, don’t hold your breath. *
Contact Sam Boykin at (704) 944-3623 or sam.boykin@cln.com.
This article appears in May 29 – Jun 4, 2002.
