Prior to adoption of the 1972 Clean Water Act (CWA) most U.S. power plants used once-through cooling water systems that discharged large quantities of warm water. This resulted in significant amounts of thermal pollution in neighboring bodies of water. The CWA essentially mandated recirculating...

The 1990 Clean Air ActAmendments (CAAA) introduced tradable permits for controlling sulfur dioxide (SO2) emissions from coal-burning power plants and forced scrubbers to compete with other SO2 abatement options. While the flexibility of permits reduced overall compliance costs, a secondary...

Prior to implementation of the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments (CAAA), many estimates of the marginal cost of SO2 abatement were provided to guide policy makers. Numerous studies estimated the marginal cost of abatement to be between $250 and $760 per ton, though permits initially traded well...

Title IV of the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments (CAAA) introduced market-based incentives for controlling sulfur dioxide (SO2) emissions from coal burning power plants. Previous regulation under the 1977 CAAA had effectively required the use of scrubbers, but only by new power plants. The 1990...

The introduction of scrubbers as a means of controlling sulfur dioxide pollution from stationary sources coincided with the implementation of the Clean Air Act of 1970. Since that time, there have been many policy changes affecting the electricity generation industry. These changes may be...