Obama to Introduce Sweeping New Controls on Ozone Emissions

The Obama administration is expected to soon release a contentious and long-delayed environmental regulation to curb ozone emissions, reported the New York Times. The sweeping regulation, which would aim at smog from power plants and factories across the country, particularly in the Midwest, would be the latest in a series of Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) controls on air pollution from smokestacks and tailpipes.

The proposed regulation would lower the current threshold for ozone pollution from 75 parts per billion to a range of 65 to 70 parts per billion. That range is less stringent than the standard of 60 parts per billion sought by environmental groups, but the EPA proposal would also seek public comment on a 60 parts-per-billion plan, keeping open the possibility that the final rule could be stricter.

The ozone rules are expected to force the owners of power plants and factories to install expensive technology to clean the pollutants from their smokestacks.

Next year, EPA is expected to make final two more historic Clean Air Act rules aimed at cutting greenhouse gas emissions from coal-fired power plants. Those rules, which are intended to curb pollutants that contribute to climate change, could lead to the shutdown of hundreds of power plants and freeze construction of future coal plants.

The Republican-majority Congress, to be led by Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the incoming majority leader, has vowed to block or overturn the entire group of rules. S