Clear Skies in South Dakota

Note: Yellow states are states involved in the WRAP voluntary emissions reduction program.

Clear Skies Health and Air Quality Benefits in the West

Improve Public Health

• Reduced ozone and fine particle exposure by 2020 would result in public health benefits of:
  • approximately 1,100 fewer premature deaths each year
  • approximately 800 fewer cases of chronic bronchitis each year
  • approximately 1,800 fewer non-fatal heart attacks each year
  • approximately 2,500 fewer hospital and emergency room visits each year
  • Approximately 150,000 fewer days workers are out sick due to respiratory symptoms each year
  • approximately 19,000 fewer school absences each year
• Reduced mercury emissions would reduce exposure to mercury through consumption of contaminated fish, resulting in additional, unquantified benefits to those who eat fish from lakes and streams in the West.
  

Help Maintain Health-Based Air Quality Standards (see note 2)

• All counties in South Dakota are currently expected to meet the 8-hour ozone and fine particle standards.
• Clear Skies would reduce concentrations of fine particles throughout South Dakota, providing additional benefits to public health.
  

Clear Skies Would Provide Important Environmental Benefits in the West

Clear Skies would produce significant visibility benefits in highly visited national parks and wilderness areas in the West.

• Quantifiable visibility benefits in just 5 parks (Grand Canyon, Rocky Mountain, Zion, Bryce Canyon, and Mesa Verde National Parks) total over $300 million.
• Visibility benefits in the Grand Canyon alone are estimated to be $100 million annually by 2020.
• Visibility improvements are also projected to improve tourism.
• In comparison to existing programs, nitrogen deposition would decrease by 5-20% in the inter mountain West, and in some areas, such as the Four Corners region, by up to 35%. Sulfur and mercury deposition would not increase despite growth in electricity demand.

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Electricity Generation in South Dakota under Clear Skies

Current and Projected Generation by Fuel Type in South Dakota under Clear Skies (GWh)

Current and Projected Coal Production for Electricity Generation

Emission Controls in South Dakota under Clear Skies

Units in South Dakota Projected to Be Retrofitted Due to Clear Skies by 2020

Note: Retrofits and total coal-fired capacity apply to coal units greater than 25 MW.

Electricity Prices in South Dakota under Clear Skies

Note: The base case using IPM includes Title IV, the NOx SIP Call, NSR settlements, and state-specific caps in CT, MA, MO, NC, NH, TX, and WI. It does not include mercury MACT in 2007 or any other potential future regulations to implement the current air quality standards or other parts of the Clean Air Act. Base case emissions in 2020 will likely be lower due to state and federal regulatory actions that have not yet been promulgated.

Costs and Benefits in South Dakota under Clear Skies

• In South Dakota, Clear Skies is projected to cost approximately $11 million annually by 2020 while providing $200 million in health and visibility benefits. Region wide, Clear Skies will cost $1.2 billion while providing health and visibility benefits totaling approximately $9.5 billion annually by 2020.
  
• The increases in production costs under Clear Skies represent only a small percentage of total retail electricity sales revenue in South Dakota.
  
• Retail electricity sales revenue in South Dakota was $0.5 billion in 2000.
• Adjusting these sales revenues by the same growth rate used for the modeling of costs would result in revenues of almost $0.8 billion annually in 2020.
  
• Nationwide, the projected annual costs of Clear Skies (in $1999) are $4.3 billion in 2010 and $6.3 billion in 2020; the nationwide benefits of Clear Skies are expected to be over $113 billion annually by 2020.
  • An alternate estimate projects annual health benefits totaling $23 billion.
    
    

Note: Costs include capital costs, fuel, and other operation and maintenance costs (both fixed and variable) associated with the achievement of the emissions caps in the legislation (for example, the installation and operation of pollution controls). These state-level production costs are estimates; they do not account for the costs associated with the transfer of electricity across regions, nor the costs or savings that could be associated with allowance movement between sources.

Notes on EPA's Analysis

• The information presented in this analysis reflects EPA's modeling of the Clear Skies Act of 2003.
  • EPA has updated this information to reflect modifications:
    • Changes included in the Clear Skies Act of 2003.
    • Revisions to the Base Case to reflect newly promulgated rules at the state and federal level since the initial analysis was undertaken.
  • The Clear Skies modeling results presented include the safety valve feature
    
    
• This analysis compares new programs to a Base Case (Existing Control Programs), which is typical when calculating costs and benefits of Agency rule makings.

  • The Base Case reflects implementation of current control programs only:
    • Does not include yet-to-be developed regulations such as those to implement the National Ambient Air Quality Standards.
      
  • The EPA Base Case for power sector modeling includes:
    • Title IV, the NOx SIP Call, NSR settlements, and state-specific caps in Connecticut, Massachusetts, Missouri, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Texas, and Wisconsin finalized before March 2003.
  • For air quality modeling, the Base Case also includes federal and state control programs, as well as the Tier II, Heavy Duty Diesel, and Non-Road Diesel rules.

1.An alternative methodology for calculating health-related benefits projects approximately 600 premature deaths prevented and $1.6 billion in health benefits each year in the West by 2020.

2. Based on 1999-2001 data for counties with monitors that have three years of complete data.

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