Why are pollution levels at Midwestern plants so high?
Many coal-fired plants outside the Northeast are located in rural areas that don’t exceed the current ozone standard. As a result, some have installed only minimal NOx controls, and many have not installed any NOx controls at all. In addition, many of these plants are quite old (over 30 years) and were “grand-fathered” under the Clean Air Act because Congress assumed that they would be retired soon. However, this has not happened. By contrast, power plants in the Northeast, most of which are located in areas that violate federal air quality standards, have had to reduce their NOx emissions significantly.
