Gracie Cockett

Decrease Acid Rain-NEG

SIGNIFICANCE:

SO2 emissions are down by 50%.

Environmental Protection Agency, January 2009, "Acid Rain and Related Programs"
http://www.epa.gov/airmarkt/progress/docs/2007ARPReport.pdf
As shown in Figure 2, ARP [Acid Rain Program] sources have reduced annual SO2 emissions by 49
percent compared with 1980 levels and 43 percent compared with 1990 levels. Reductions in SO2
emissions from other sources not affected by the ARP (including industrial and commercial boilers
and the metals and refining industries) and use of cleaner fuels in residential and commercial
burners contributed to a similar overall decline (50 percent) in annual SO2 emissions from all
sources since 1980. National SO2 emissions from all sources have fallen from nearly 26 million
tons in 1980 to less than 13 million tons in 2007.

Total number of SO2 allowances aren't even being used yearly.

Environmental Protection Agency, January 2009, "Acid Rain and Related Programs"
http://www.epa.gov/airmarkt/progress/docs/2007ARPReport.pdf
For 2007, EPA allocated over 9.5 million SO2 allowances under the ARP. Together with over 6.2
million unused allowances carried over (or banked) from prior years, there were 15.8 million
allowances available for use in 2007. Sources emitted approximately 8.9 million tons of SO2 in
2007, less than the allowances allocated for the year, and far less than the total allowances
available (see Figure 3).6

Nitrogen Oxide emissions have decreased.

Environmental Protection Agency, January 2009, "Acid Rain and Related Programs"
http://www.epa.gov/airmarkt/progress/docs/2007ARPReport.pdf
Although the ARP NOX program does not involve a cap on emissions, Congress set a program goal
of 6.1 million tons from all ARP sources by 2000. The goal represents a 2 million ton reduction in
annual NOX emissions from the NOX emission levels that were projected to occur in 2000 absent
the ARP (8.1 million tons). This goal was first achieved in 2000 and has been met every year
thereafter, including 2007. Figure 9 shows that NOX emissions from all ARP sources were 3.3
million tons in 2007. This level is 4.8 million tons less than the projected level in 2000 without the
ARP, or more than double the Title IV NOX emission reduction objective. These reductions have
been achieved even though the amount of fossil fuel burned to produce electricity (as measured
by heat input) at EGUs in 2007 has increased 42 percent since 1990.

Significant decreases in wet sulfate deposition.

Environmental Protection Agency, January 2009, "Acid Rain and Related Programs"
http://www.epa.gov/airmarkt/progress/docs/2007ARPReport.pdf
NADP/NTN monitoring data show significant improvements in the primary acid deposition
indicators. For example, wet sulfate deposition (sulfate that falls to the earth through rain, snow,
and fog) has decreased since the implementation of the ARP in much of the Ohio River Valley and
northeastern United States. Some of the greatest reductions have occurred in the mid-
Appalachian region, including Maryland, New York, West Virginia, Virginia, and most of
Pennsylvania. Other less dramatic reductions have been observed across much of New England,
portions of the southern Appalachian Mountains, and some areas of the Midwest. Between the
1989 to 1991 and 2005 to 2007 observation periods, average decreases in wet deposition of
sulfate averaged around 30 percent for the eastern United States (see Table 5 on page 22 and
Figures 18a and 18b). Along with wet sulfate deposition, wet sulfate concentrations have also
decreased by similar percentages. A strong correlation between large-scale SO2 emission
reductions and large reductions in sulfate concentrations in precipitation has been noted in the
Northeast, one of the areas most affected by acid deposition.

SOLVENCY:

Clean coal plants are very expensive, with the current financial crisis raising costs even
more.

David G. Victor (senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, is professor of law at Stanford
Law School and director of the Program on Energy and Sustainable Development) & Varun Rai
(research fellow and leader of the Stanford program's research on carbon storage) January 3rd,
2009 "Dirty Coal is Winning" Newsweek Magazine http://www.newsweek.com/id/177684

The problem is that clean-coal plants are a lot more expensive than conventional "dirty coal"
technology, and the financial crisis is obliterating schemes that would have paid the extra cost.
Before the crisis, a team at Stanford University found that the world was investing only about 1
percent of what's needed on advanced coal technologies to meet carbon-emissions targets. Now a
spate of canceled projects darkens the picture.

It is all but impossible to finance a clean-coal power plant in the status quo.

David G. Victor (senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, is professor of law at Stanford
Law School and director of the Program on Energy and Sustainable Development) & Varun Rai
(research fellow and leader of the Stanford program's research on carbon storage) January 3rd,
2009 "Dirty Coal is Winning" Newsweek Magazine http://www.newsweek.com/id/177684

A 300-megawatt plant that cut emissions nearly 90 percent would cost $1 billion to $2.5 billion,
and the United States would need about 1,000 such plants to match its current coal-power output.
China would need another 1,000. Since the 1960s, when U.S. utilities last made major
investments in new plants, their average bond rating has fallen from AA to BBB, and now the
credit crisis has made it all but impossible to finance any new plant, much less an expensive,
clean one.