Clear Skies
Legislative 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.
Clear Skies would set strict, mandatory emissions caps on three of the
most harmful air pollutants from power generators -- sulfur dioxide (SO2),
nitrogen oxides (NOx), and mercury. Former President Bush first announced the
Clear Skies Act on February 14, 2002. Clear Skies legislation was first
introduced in both Houses of Congress in July 2002 and reintroduced in
February 2003. On January 24, 2005, Senators Inhofe and Voinovich introduced
their version of the Clear Skies Act (S
131)  . The Senate Environment and
Public Works Committee held hearings on this legislation on January 26
and February 2 of 2005. The Clear Skies Act would cut power plant emissions of these pollutants by 70 percent, eliminating 35 million more tons of these pollutants in the next decade than the current Clean Air Act. Analytical data generated by state-of-the-art EPA computer modeling shows that nationwide reductions of these three harmful pollutants would have striking results: Every part of the country where power plants contribute significantly to air pollution, most notably, the Northeast, Southeast, and Midwest, would see vast improvements in air quality. Many cities and towns would meet air quality standards for the first time in years. You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader, available as a free download, to view some of the files on this page. See EPA's PDF page to learn more about PDF, and for a link to the free Acrobat Reader.
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