Edward Smith, edward.smith@sierraclub.org
Oklahoma City, OK – Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the Biden Administration’s proposed Cross-State Air Pollution Rule, which will protect Americans from dangerous cross-state air pollution from coal-burning power plants and other industrial sources in 26 states. The announcement comes weeks after notice was given to Oklahoma and 18 other states that their state implementation plans to curb pollution were not enough.
Cross-state air pollution is the air pollution from upwind states that crosses state lines and affects air quality in downwind states. Nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions react in the presence of heat and sunlight to create ground-level ozone or smog. These emissions affect air quality and public health locally, regionally, and in states hundreds of miles downwind.
The Biden Administration made a commitment to take bold and historic public health action, emphasizing environmental justice, and that can only be accomplished with swift action to reduce all levels of pollution. Currently, there are more than 150 coal-burning power plant units across the country lacking modern NOx pollution control technologies with no plans to retire before 2026. In Oklahoma, those facilities include:
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Grand River Energy Center Unit 2, owned by Grand River Dam Authority
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Hugo Unit 1, owned by Western Farmers Electric Cooperative
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Muskogee Unit 6, owned by Oklahoma Gas & Electric Co.
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River Valley Units 1 & 2, owned by Oklahoma Gas & Electric Co.
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Sooner Unit 1 & 2, owned by Oklahoma Gas & Electric Co.
Under the proposal, power-sector polluters will have to drastically reduce their emissions levels by 29% during ozone seasons, and the rule would reduce overall NOx emissions by 94,000 tons per year. The proposal also includes smog-reduction measures for pipelines and other major industrial polluters. Oklahoma is also one of 39 states failing to act on its obligations to reduce regional haze from major pollution sources.
Resources:
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States Covered Under the Power Plant and Other Industries Portions of CSAPR for the 2015 Ozone NAAQS
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Upwind States Contributing Above 1% to Downwind States in 2023 for the 2015 Ozone NAAQS
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State Emissions Reductions from non-Electric Generating Units
Statement from Cheyenne Skye Branscum, Chapter Chair of the Oklahoma Sierra Club:
“Today’s announcement is a positive step for public health, especially for people living downwind from coal-fired power plants in Oklahoma. For too long, marginalized and overburdened communities have shouldered an unfair burden on their health and well-being without the ability to protect themselves and their families from dangerous air pollution. Reducing pollution that travels across state lines will annually prevent a thousand premature deaths, 2,400 hospital visits, and 1.3 million asthma attacks.
“What’s frustrating is that Governor Stitt is responsible for making sure our state implements federal laws, yet the EPA rejected Oklahoma’s cross state air pollution plan while we haven't even submitted a regional haze plan. It appears that Gov. Stitt is picking and choosing which federal laws our state will follow, and for that Oklahomans and our neighbors downwind will suffer.”
About the Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with millions of members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person's right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.