UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY 

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20460 

AUG 1 9 2011 

OFFICE OF 

/' IR :'ND RADIAi IO'J 

The Honorable Charles L. Hardy, Jr. 

Mayor 

City of Commerce 

27 Sycamore Street 

P.O. Box 348 

Commerce, Georgia 30529 

Dear Mayor Hardy: 

Thank you for your letter of July 25, 2011 , to Administrator Lisa Jackson, expressing concern over 

potential impacts of the proposed "National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants from 

Coal- and Oil-fired Electric Utility Steam Generating Units and Standards of Performance for FossilFuel-Fired Electric Utili ty, Industrial-Commercial-Insti tutional , and Small Industrial-CommercialInstitutional Steam Generating Units" (the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards rule, MATS), which was 

published in the Federal Register on May 3, 2011. The Administrator asked that rrespond on her behalf. 

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency carefully analyzed the issue of electric supply, working 

closely with the Department of Energy (DOE). Our modeling shows that these proposed standards 

would result in relatively small changes in the average retail price of electricity, primarily due to 

increased demand for natural gas, keeping electricity prices below 1990 levels. This translates into a 

1.3 percent increase in residential natural gas prices and a consumer electricity price increase of 

approximately $3-4 per month. . 

The proposed standards, which will save thousands of lives and prevent tens of thousands of asthma and 

heart attacks, are both reasonable and achievable, and many sources already are meeting them. Investing 

in pollution control at power plants creates high-quality American jobs in manufacturing steel, cement, 

and other materials needed to build pollution control equipment, and in installing, operating and 

maintaining that equipment. The EPA estimates this proposed rule will provide employment for 

thousands by supporting 31,000 short-term construction jobs and 9,000 long-term utility jobs. These 

jobs would be distributed nationwide, in proportion to the number of coal-fired units that need upgrades. 

The EPA, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the DOE will work with entities whose 

responsibility is to ensure an affordable, reliable supply of electricity, including State Utility 

Commissions, Regional Transmission Organizations and the National Electric Reliability Council to 

share information and encourage them to begin planning for compliance and reliability as early as 

possible. This will ensure orderly, affordable compliance with the proposed standards. Energy efficiency 

investments that achieve moderate levels of energy demand reduction in compliance strategies can also 

substantially cut total emissions control costs for the power sector. 

Intelnet Address (URLI • l1Up I/wwwepa gov 


Recycled/Recyclable' Printed w,th Vegetable 0,1 Based In S Or) 100"t,. Posleol sumar Process Chloro"e Free Recyclt'd Paper 

With regard to the compliance the gives 

local permitting authorities (rather than the EPA) are allowed, 

provide for an additional year and the 

appropriate. 

will support this permitting authority flexibility 

you for your 

opportunity to of service 

It will for this rulemaking, I 

is helpfuL 

Sincerely,