UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY 

WASHINGTON,D.C 20460 

JUL 12 2011 


OFFICE OF 

AIR AND RADIATION 

Mr. R. D. Cross 

Mayor 

City of Gilmer 

P.O. Box 760 

Gilmer, Texas 75644 

Dear Mayor Cross: 

Thank you for your letter of June 16,2011, to 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 Fossil-Fuel-Fired Electric 

Utility, Industrial-Commercial-Institutionai, and Small Industrial-Commerciat-Institutional 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 I respond on her behalf. 

The EPA carefully analyzed the issue of electric reliability, 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, including in Texas, in proportion to the number of coal-fired units 

that need upgrades. 

The EPA, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, and 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 CoUIicil 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 

cut substantially total emissions control costs for the power sector. 

With regard to the compliance period, the Clean Air Act gives existing units three years to comply. State 

and local permitting authorities (rather than the EPA) are allowed, under certain circumstances, to 

Internet Ad res:> (URL) • http.llwwwepa gov 


Recycled/Recyclable ' Printed with Vegetable Orl Based Inks en 100% Postce surner Precess Chlorine Free Recycled Pacer 

provide for an additional year and the EPA will support this permitting authority flexibility where 

appropriate. 

Again, thank you for your letter. I appreciate the opportunity to be of service and trust the information 

provided is helpful. 

'V:-~ 

ina McCarthy 

Assistant Administrator