Virtual Commons - Bridgewater State University

Poster: An Examination of Pollutant Emissions from EPA Hypothesized Best Performing Power Plants

Moakley Atrium

This poster presents new results of our ongoing analysis of air pollution within the electric utility industry. To set emissions limits for heavy metals and acid gases, the EPA had issued a two phase information collection request. In the first phase, all utilities were surveyed to gather emissions data from historical compliance reports. In the second phase, the EPA required a limited number of power plants to measure pollutants in flue gas as it enters the atmosphere. While our earlier research used only phase I data, this analysis incorporates both phase I and II data and covers a wider range of pollutants. Plants selected for Phase II were those that the EPA believed to be best-performing within different pollutant categories. In addition, some randomly selected plants were required to test for all pollutants. Our analysis has several research objectives. First, we characterize the difficulty of achieving industry compliance with the new standards. Second, we examine the extent to which EPA hypothesized best-performing plants were in fact best-performing in given pollutant categories. Third, we determine which configurations of control technology lead to best performance.