The Environmental Protection Agency on Friday proposed tougher rules to cut lung-damaging smog pollution from power plants and industrial sources as part of the agency’s broader effort to clean up the power sector.

 

The "Good Neighbor" proposal would target a roughly 29% cut in emissions of smog-forming nitrogen oxides from power plants by 2026, along with a 15% reduction from other industrial sources, by encouraging more consistent use of pollution control equipment, according to a fact sheet provided by the agency.

 

Industrial emitters occasionally turn off their pollution control equipment to save money, meeting their emissions limits instead by purchasing pollution reduction credits from other facilities. Their pollution can then blow across state lines, making it difficult for downwind states to comply with a 2015 ground-level ozone standard.

 

"Air pollution doesn’t stop at the state line. This step will help our state partners meet air quality health standards, saving lives and improving public health in smog-affected communities across the United States,” EPA Administrator Michael Regan said in a statement on Friday.

 

The announcement comes a day after Regan laid out the agency's plans to use a "full suite" of powers to clean up conventional pollutants at power plants. (Reuters)