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Pollution Control And The Clean Air Act Amendment

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The Southern Company is one of the largest consumers of coal, and the amendment of the Clean Air Act Amendment that aimed at reducing the volume of sulfur dioxide generated led to some problems. Previous regulations for air pollution control had specified a particular amount that a facility could emit, while the company has to choose its emission levels for the new sulfur dioxide law. Coal-fired plants in the United States will be receiving allowances for emitting 2.5 pounds of sulfur dioxide per 1,000,000 MMBtu of consumed coal. The implication of this is that our company must reduce the level of sulfur dioxide generated. The Bowen plant must either reduce its emissions from 30 tons of sulfur dioxide per hour (262,800 tons of sulfur per year) to 29.06 tons of sulfur dioxide per hour (254,580 tons of sulfur dioxide per year) by Phase I and to 13.94 tons of sulfur dioxide per hour (122,198 tons of sulfur dioxide per year) by Phase II or it must buy pollution allowances from elsewhere. The company also has the option to significantly lower its sulfur dioxide emissions and to sell the rest of its pollution allowances to other plants. Phase II, which started on January 1, 2000, brought an additional reduction of the gas to 1.2 pounds per MMBtu of coal. The coming into effect of this law also entitles the company to receive allowances once it complies with its mandates. The Southern Company has three options available to respond to the acid rain provisions of the Clean Air

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