The Clean Air Act has been a resounding success. A recent Congressional Research Service report notes that " the Clean Air Act and its 1990 amendments appear to have contributed to a marked improvement in air quality nationwide." Since passage of the 1990 amendments, more than one-half of the areas not meeting air quality standards for ozone in 1990 now meet those standards. 33 of 42 areas not in attainment for carbon monoxide in 1990 now meet the standard.
At the present time, my state can boast attainment of all national ambient air quality standards. Unfortunately, this status will change with the new millennium. As we enter a new century and a new millennium, beautiful Tampa Bay and Pensacola, with its sugar-white sand beaches, will both be redesignated as non-attainment areas for ozone.
I asked the Florida Department of Environmental Quality the following question: What measures would provide the most improvement in air quality for Florida? The answer was 1) the Tier II automobile emissions standards, including the low sulfur standard, and 2) phasing out the so-called "grandfathered facilities." These facilities are the older fossil-fuel fired power plants that were not required to meet the New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) in the Clean Air Act.
I would like to briefly discuss both of these measures, and get feedback from today's witnesses, especially as they pertain to Florida. As we are all aware, sulfur in gasoline interferes with the performance of cars' emission control equipment. Some have advocated regional standards for sulfur, based on regional air quality. I disagree. Florida attracts 45 million tourists per year to our beautiful shores and attractions. Many of these vacationers bring their cars. As you drive down I-95 or I-75 in Florida, you can spot license plates from just about every state. These cars travel through and across many regions to reach our shores and attractions. Differing regional sulfur standards would significantly reduce the efficacy of the emissions control equipment.
In those regions of Florida that will be in non-attainment in 2000, specifically Pensacola and Tampa Bay, power plant emissions are the major contributing factor. When the Clean Air Act was crafted, older power plants were not required to meet the new source performance standards because it was thought that the remaining lifetime of the plants would be short. Requiring costly upgrades to plants that would not have time to amortize these capital expenses seemed unfair. As it turned out, most of these older plants continue to operate today, emitting far more than their fair share of pollutants. In a restructured electricity market, it has been estimated that allowing these older plants to continue to operate without complying to the new source performance standards amounts to approximately a 2 cents/kWh subsidy.
I am very interested in examining steps that could be taken to bring these older plants into compliance with the new source performance standards in a way that is fair to all involved. These steps would provide a significant benefit of the environment as well as a way to level the playing field in electricity competition. Thank you.