Clear Skies
Technical Information
Note: EPA no longer updates this information, but it may be useful as a reference or resource.Unless otherwise noted, the data presented throughout this Web site reflect EPA’s 2003 modeling and analysis of the Clear Skies Act of 2003. Clear Skies legislation was intended to create a mandatory program that would dramatically reduce power plant emissions of sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxides (NOx), and mercury by setting a national cap on each pollutant. The Clear Skies bill was proposed in response to a growing need for an emission reduction plan that will protect human health and the environment while providing regulatory certainty to the industry. The proposed legislation for air regulation never moved out of the Senate Environment and Public Works committee in 2005 and was therefore never enacted.
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2003 Technical Support Package for Clear Skies:
- Introduction, Table of Contents, Notes on the 2003 Analysis (PDF, 10 pp., 94KB)
- Section A: 2003 Program Elements in the Clear Skies Act (PDF, 12 pp., 396KB)
- Section B: 2003 Human Health and Environmental Benefits (PDF, 49 pp., 4.7MB)
- Section C: 2003 Projected Costs (PDF, 5 pp., 210KB)
- Section D: 2003 Projected Impacts on Generation and Fuel Use (PDF, 12 pp., 687KB)
- Section E: 2003 Projected Impacts at the State and Regional Level (PDF, 26 pp., 3.4MB)
- Section F: 2003 Allocations (PDF, 7 pp., 100KB)
- Section G: 2003 Factors Affecting the Installation of Control Technologies (PDF, 11 pp., 35KB)
- Section H: 2003 Summary of the Models Used for this Analysis (PDF, 7 pp., 23KB)
Other Technical Information from 2003 Analyses:
- Technical Addendum: Methodologies for the Benefit Analysis of the Clear Skies Act of 2003 (PDF, 86 pp., 1.7MB)
- Air Quality Modeling Technical Support Document
2002 Technical Support Package for Clear Skies:
View the entire 2002 Technical Support Package (PDF, 105 pp., 6MB), or view each section separately from the list below.
- Introduction, Table of Contents, Notes on the Analysis (PDF, 4 pp., 351KB)
- Section A: 2002 Program Elements in the Clear Skies Act (PDF, 11 pp., 877KB)
- Section B: 2002 Human Health and Environmental Benefits (PDF, 30 pp., 4.3MB)
- Section C: 2002 Projected Costs (PDF, 8 pp., 993KB)
- Section D: 2002 Projected Impacts on Generation and Fuel Use (PDF, 13 pp., 1.9MB)
- Section E: 2002 Projected Impacts at the State and Regional Level (PDF, 21 pp., 3.5MB)
- Section F: 2002 Factors Affecting the Installation of Control Technologies (PDF, 11 pp., 647KB)
- Section G: 2002 Summary of the Models Used for this Analysis (PDF, 7 pp., 854KB)
Other Technical Information from 2002 Analyses:
- Technical Addendum: Methodologies for the Benefit Analysis of the Clear Skies Initiative (PDF, 73 pp., 469KB)
- Engineering and Economic Factors Affecting the Installation of Control Technologies for Multipollutant Strategies (PDF, 85 pp., 2.3MB)
- Clear Skies Summary (PDF, 20 pp., 1.6MB)
- Clear Skies: Mechanism and Impacts (PDF, 23 pp., 2.5MB)
Analyses of Alternative Multi-pollutant Reduction Scenarios:
- Analysis in response to a request from Senators Jeffords and Lieberman (PDF, 33 pp., 121KB)
- Analysis in response to a request from Senators Smith, Voinovich and Brownback (PDF, 49 pp., 1MB)