21st Century North Carolina Air Quality

Ongoing Efforts to Reduce Power Plant Emissions

The Clean Smokestacks Act, enacted by the North Carolina General Assembly in 2002, was a major step forward in efforts to reduce air emissions from coal-fired power plants. It requires power plants to reduce their nitrogen oxide emissions by 77% in 2009, and sulfur dioxide emissions by 73% in 2013. The DAQ has prepared, and posted on its website, reports addressing the implementation of the Clean Smokestacks Act.

There have been other important regulatory developments in the effort to reduce air emissions from power plants, including the NOx SIP Call, the federal Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR), and the federal Clean Air Mercury Rule (CAMR). The NC rules for implementing CAIR, CAMR, and BART were each adopted in 2006. The North Carolina mercury rule went through public hearings in May and June, as requested by the Air Quality Committee of the Environmental Management Commission (EMC), and was adopted in November. More...