Reductions also would be required at other NOx sources including large industrial boilers, electric co-generation plants, and petroleum pipeline compressor stations. The contingency plan would take effect if the courts uphold a legal challenge to a federal order requiring North Carolina and other states to reduce their NOx emissions. Under the contingency rules approved today, electric utilities would have to reduce emissions from 89,000 tons of NOx in 2000 to 39,377 tons in 2004. North Carolina is not participating in the lawsuit challenging the federal order. The state's utility companies have agreed not to challenge the contingency plan if the current challenge to the federal order is upheld.
Ozone is formed when NOx reacts with hydrocarbons in the air on hot, sunny days with little wind.
Power plants and motor vehicles together account for most of the NOx emissions in North Carolina. Hunt's Clean Air Plan, proposed in 1999 and approved by the General Assembly, targets emissions cuts from both plants and vehicles. The measures approved today will also help enable North Carolina to continue to improve air quality under a method for measuring ozone known as an eight-hour standard. North Carolina is one of only a handful of states to embrace the stringent, health-based standard. In his letter, Hunt said the action today continues a steady path of progress on air quality in the state.