Two thirds of the power plants in the nation are grandfathered-and don't use today's modern pollution control devices. They were built before the effective date of the Clean Air act in 1970 and its amendments in 1977. Recently there has been a great debate raging in the Northeast about how to clear the air there. One option would be to require these old power plants to meet today's modern pollution control standards. This issue will be debated in Congress when the Federal Clean Air Act is reauthorized or when an electric deregulation bill is debated during the next president's term.
Power plants are Texas's most powerful polluters.
A study by two Texas agencies that regulate pollution and utilities found that cleaning up the state's grandfathered power plants was by far the cheapest and fastest way to clear the air over our state. The study found that we could reduce NOx emissions from these old grandfathered plants by 70 percent at a cost of just 50 cents per month for the typical residential user. A bill to deregulate the electric industry was introduced in the Texas legislature last spring. When the Democratic sponsor of the bill in the House told the utilities that he wouldn't pass the bill unless they agreed to a mandatory 50 percent cut in air pollution, they agreed. After the deal was cut by the Democrats Bush jumped in front of the cameras to claim the credit.