Multi-Pollutant Legislation Resources

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Clear Skies

Looking to expand upon the success of the Acid Rain Program, President Bush called on Congress to pass the Clear Skies Act, a multi-pollutant approach to reducing power plant emissions of SO2, NOX, and mercury by approximately 70 percent.

Clear Skies legislation, first introduced in 2002 and introduced again in 2003, would have amended Title IV of the Clean Air Act to create national emissions trading programs requiring significant reductions and mandatory caps on SO2, NOX, and mercury emissions from electric generating facilities. This page contains information about the legislative proposals from 2002 and 2003.

EPA Resources

Fact Sheets

White House Clear Skies Initial Fact Sheet (2002) (PDF) (2 pp., 632 K)

Staff Studies and Analyses

Analysis in response to a request from Senators Jeffords and Lieberman (PDF) (33 pp., 100 K)
Analysis in response to a request from Senators Smith, Voinovich and Brownback (PDF) (49 pp., 1 MB)
Overview of the Human Health and Environmental Effects of Power Generation: Focus on Sulfur Dioxide (SO₂), Nitrogen Oxides (NO_x) and Mercury (Hg) (PDF) (15 pp., 1.1 K)
Clear Skies Policy Book (2002) (PDF) (9 pp., 388 K)

You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view some of the files on this page. See EPA's About PDF page to learn more about PDF, and a link to the free Adobe Acrobat Reader.

EPA Progress and Compliance Reports

Technical Support Package for Clear Skies:

Introduction, Table of Contents, Notes on the 2003 Analysis (PDF) (10 pp., 118 K)
Section A: 2003 Program Elements in the Clear Skies Act (PDF) (12 pp., 438 K)
Section B: 2003 Human Health and Environmental Benefits (PDF) (49 pp., 4.5 MB)
Section C: 2003 Projected Costs (PDF) (5 pp., 224 K)
Section D: 2003 Projected Impacts on Generation and Fuel Use (PDF) (12 pp., 730 K)
Section E: 2003 Projected Impacts at the State and Regional Level (PDF) (26 pp., 3.4 MB)
Section F: 2003 Allocations (PDF) (7 pp., 100 K)
Section G: 2003 Factors Affecting the Installation of Control Technologies (PDF) (11 pp., 86 K)
Section H: 2003 Summary of the Models Used for this Analysis (PDF) (7 pp., 56 K)

Press Releases

Non-EPA Resources

Note: All of the following links are outside of EPA

Articles and Reports

“Executive Summary: The Clear Skies Initiative.” The White House: News and Policies. Feb. 14, 2002.