AIR DISTRICT OKS POWER DEAL BOARD VOTES UNANIMOUSLY TO IMPOSE PENALTIES, REQUIRE POLLUTION CONTROLS.Byline: Staff and Wire Services The AQMD AQMD Air Quality Management District AQMD Action Quake Map Depot board approved a plan Friday to allow large power plants to generate more electricity to help stave off the energy crisis by removing them from an emission-trading program and charging a fee for exceeding emission limits. Following hours of testimony, the South Coast Air Quality Management District The South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD), formed in 1976, is the air pollution agency responsible mainly for regulating stationary sources of air pollution for most of Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Riverside County, and all of Orange county. board voted 10-0 to require generators to pay $7.50 for each pound of nitrogen oxide Noun 1. nitrogen oxide - any of several oxides of nitrogen formed by the action of nitric acid on oxidizable materials; present in car exhausts pollutant - waste matter that contaminates the water or air or soil above their limit. The plan also requires pollution control equipment to be installed over the next 2-3 years. ``We are doing our part to keep the lights on in California,'' said AQMD Chairman William Burke William Burke (1792 - January 28, 1829) was an Irish-Scots serial killer who, along with William Hare committed a notorious series of murders in Edinburgh in the 19th century. Burke was born in Urney, County Tyrone. . ``In return, power plants will be put on a fast-track schedule to reduce their emissions by installing state-of-the-art pollution controls.'' But power companies said compliance will be too difficult because it requires companies to submit plans - which involve guesswork - or face penalties. ``We don't want to be penalized pe·nal·ize tr.v. pe·nal·ized, pe·nal·iz·ing, pe·nal·iz·es 1. To subject to a penalty, especially for infringement of a law or official regulation. See Synonyms at punish. 2. because the image in the crystal ball is a bit fuzzy,'' said Ron Wilkniss, an environmental representative for the Western States Petroleum Association. Environmentalists criticized the measure as being too lenient. One provision that allows power generators to wait three years before paying off their mitigation fee drew concern from Gail Ruderman Feuer, senior attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) is a New York City-based, non-profit non-partisan international environmental advocacy group, with offices in Washington, D.C., San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Beijing. Founded in 1970, NRDC today has 1. , the Coalition for Clean Air and others. ``There is a large problem that needed to be fixed,'' Feuer said. ``This is a little Band-Aid. They had a great opportunity to fix the program and protect the public and they chose not to do it.'' Adopted in 1993, the Regional Clean Air Incentives Market Regional Clean Air Incentives Market (RECLAIM) is an emissions trading program operating in the state of California since 1994. Under the trading program, hundreds of polluting facilities are required to cut their emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) and sulfur oxides (SOx). program set annual emissions requirements for power plants, oil refineries and other manufacturing plants that emit four tons or more of sulfur and nitrogen oxides a year. The emissions standards decrease each year through 2003. Facilities that emitted less pollutants than their set limits in a given year could sell trading credits to other firms. The idea was to allow businesses to be flexible about emissions, as long as total emissions were under an aggregate limit. But last summer, the supply of emissions credits grew tighter as power plants operated at record levels. |
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