The United States made the first major effort in limiting air pollutants, including sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, ozone, lead, and particulate matter with the 1970 Clean Air Act, and the amendments to that act in 1977. Since then, industry developed new technologies to reduce pollutants from power plants. With the initiation of the Energy Department’s Clean Coal Technology Program in the 1980s, the United States was on its way to proving electrical power could be made from coal more efficiently with lower pollution.

Power plants in the United States emit significant amounts of air pollution in the form of sulfur dioxide (SO₂), nitrogen oxide (NOx) , and mercury. These are some of the constituents of acid rain and smog and all are known to contribute to health problems. However, efforts to date have proved that we can, and are, reducing these pollutants while improving the efficiency of energy production. The Clean Air Act will further reduce pollution with the following goals:

• Cutting current SO₂ emissions of 11 million tons to a cap of 4.5 million tons in 2010 and 3 million tons in 2018; a reduction of about 73 percent.
• Cutting current NOx emissions of 5 million tons to a cap of 2.1 million tons in 2008, and to 1.7 million tons in 2018; a reduction of 66 percent.
• Cutting current mercury emissions of 48 tons to a cap of 26 tons in 2010 and 15 tons in 2018; a reduction of about 69 percent

Continuing Process
Developing cleaner coal fired power generation is an ongoing process. Initiation of the Clear Skies Initiative has motivated the government and industry to push the envelope on new power generating systems including coal-fired power plants. We are developing new technologies that use coal to generate electricity that will substantially reduce mercury emissions from the process.