EPA is likely in the coming months to satisfy industry's demands for a finding that states can rely on the agency's power plant emissions cap-and-trade rule as an adequate control measure for meeting its regional haze program, but the effort is prompting environmentalists' concerns that the trading rule might not adequately address haze problems. Utility industry groups recently called on EPA to determine that states can satisfy the regional haze program's best available retrofit technology (BART) emissions control requirements if they are also subject to the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR) trading program that presently applies in 27 states. Doing so would allow states to show compliance with both programs for any utilities subject to the trading program, and also help utilities avoid having to install additional pollution controls to meet the haze program beyond those steps taken to meet CSAPR.
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