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Enron Mail |
The Supreme Court cleared the way yesterday for the EPA to enforce its new
"NOx SIP Call" regulations aimed at reducing NOx emissions in the eastern half of the U.S..? The Court refused to hear an appeal by several electric utilities and Midwest states, which contended that the EPA had used improper criteria in setting the regulations.? The Supreme Court's decision lets stand a March 2000 ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit that upheld the regulations.? This means the NOx SIP Call regulations will go into effect with an implementation date of May 2004. Under the original SIP Call regulations, 22 states (AL, CT, DE, GA, IL, IN, KY, MD, MA, MI, MO, NJ, NY, NC, OH, PA, RI, SC, TN, VA, WV, WI) and the District of Columbia were required to submit State Implementation Plans (SIPs) to EPA by October 31, 2000 (with a grace period until December 31, 2000). Some states submitted SIPs by the deadline, but many are still in the process of developing SIPs. Those states that do not submit SIPs or whose SIPs are not approved by EPA will be subject to a fallback Federal rule (FIP) and lose the ability to control NOx emissions from their sources. A few states were excluded from the SIP requirement as a result of the litigation, but those states are in the process of developing SIPs anyway. Now that the SIP call is final, we will be back to you shortly with further analysis of the SIP development efforts the states and other intelligence about what states and sources may be doing in anticipation of the regulations. Please call if you have any questions. Jeffrey Keeler Director, Environmental Strategies Enron Washington DC office - (202) 466-9157 Cell Phone (203) 464-1541
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