In April 2001, after lengthy debates and wrangling over compromises, the NC General Assembly passed the NC Clean Smokestacks Act (CSA). The act mandates a year-round 70 percent emission reduction from the state’s power plants and industries. In addition to putting an overall cap on emission standards and requiring that all plants be brought up to the same performance levels, CSA also requires substantial reductions in pollutants like sulfur dioxide, which cause acid rain. In addition, CSA puts restrictions on what is known as pollution “banking” or “credits.” This is a practice in which to avoid implementing costly restrictions locally, Duke Energy could conceivably buy “pollution credits” from another utility in another state that has exceeded minimum requirements.
While many see the Clean Smokestacks Act (CSA) as one of the most important environmental bills to come along in a decade, others are disappointed it doesn’t do more. Lou Zeller of the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League (BREDL) says there were many flaws in the bill, and indicated that his organization opposed the final brokered deal. “Even if the CSA were to reduce nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxide by 10,000 tons, that 10,000 tons of pollutants would then become available to other sources of pollution via expansion or new construction,” says Zeller. “In other words, cleaning up the old coal-fired smokestacks will allow other diesel-, gas-, and coal-fired plants to be built, and we’ll be right back where we started.”
This article appears in Nov 19-25, 2003.
