NEWS

September 5, 2006

Contact:        
Andy Bowen
877-251-0400

As Monday deadline looms, E3 Consulting finds few states
Ready with plans to meet EPA power plant pollution rules

DENVER – E3 Consulting LLC, which specializes in financial, technical, operational and environmental analysis for energy sector clients, predicted today that most of the 28 eastern states facing tougher new U.S. EPA emissions standards for coal-fired power plants will be unable to meet the Monday, Sept. 11 deadline to file their compliance plans for the new rules.
           
"Time has run out. It is clear that many of the 28 eastern states affected will be asking for extensions or face the prospect of having the federal government impose its own plans for state compliance," said James F. Short, Senior Vice President at E3.
           
Through the course of business, E3 Consulting LLC was asked to determine the potential effects of the EPA’s new Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR) and the Clean Air Mercury Rule (CAMR) for coal-fired power plants east of the Mississippi River. Experts at E3 found that the potential effects could be financially devastating to the plants.
           
States that do not submit amendments to their respective State Implementation Plans (SIPs) will become subject to the Federal Implementation Plan, or FIP, that applies the CAIR requirements to individual states.
           
Many facilities will prove to be unsuitable for costly retrofitting projects needed to meet the new standards, and will have to be shut down. That will create a situation requiring their replacement with more efficient facilities with lower emissions, commencing what could be a multi-billion dollar reconstruction effort taking years.
           
Earl Franklin, Executive Director at E3 Consulting, will present E3’s detailed findings at the Electric Power Generation Association’s conference in Hershey, PA on Friday, Sept. 8.
           
In March of 2005, the EPA issued the CAIR and CAMR directives, which are designed to begin cutting sulfur dioxide, oxides of nitrogen, and mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants east of the Mississippi River beginning in 2009.
           
For more information, please visit www.e3co.com.