The Clean Air Act Amendment of 1990 and their implications on the clean coal technology program

Acid rain precursor control and emissions reduction legislation (Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990), aimed specifically at the electric utility industry and the industrial sector, has been recently debated and passed in both Houses of Congress and signed into law by President Bush. The Act contains SO2 and NOx emissions reduction criteria with a compliance time-frame centering around the year 2000. The total reduction targets are ten million tons for SO2 and two million tons for NOx, including caps on future SO2 emissions and the trading of emission allowances. For these reasons and considering the nation's future energy regulations, it is essential that any Clean Coal Technology have the ability to meet current and future emission reduction requirements while utilizing coal. This paper addresses the possible impact of these and future requirements on the Clean Coal Technology Program