Delaware state officials want federal environmental regulators to allow local power plants and factories to buy pollution reduction credits outside the state…even if that means more pollution here.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency warned last year that it would not accept a rule change that applies to new sources of pollutants that form ground-level ozone.
Secretary Collin O’Mara who heads the state’s Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control says that the state’s ozone sources are already under-control with most smog ingredients coming from outside the state.
The Wilmington News Journal reports that in-state emissions control credits can now cost as much as $10-thosuand for each ton of emissions.
O’Mara told the paper that this is 200 times higher than the costs in nearby state outside the EPA’s “non-attainment” area for ozone.
Because the state fails to meet federal smog standards, Delaware businesses are required to more than offset or cancel out any new ozone-forming pollution from large projects.
