The following pages report and compare air pollutant emissions of the 100 largest U.S. electric power producers for 2006, and also estimate the financial impacts--on power companies and consumers--of pending legislation to limit global warming pollution. The information presented here was compiled and analyzed in collaboration by NRDC; Public Service Enterprise Group Incorporated (PSEG), a New Jersey-based electric utility; Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E), a California-based energy utility; and CERES, a national coalition of environmental and investor groups.

Key findings of the Benchmarking project's 2006 report include:

• Under the Lieberman-Warner bill, power companies would receive 1.2 billion tons of free pollution allowances in 2012 - about 45 percent of current electric power emissions in 2006. However, this free allocation ends in 2031. Under the Low Carbon Economy Act, power companies would receive 2.1 billion tons of free allowances - or about 80 percent of their emissions.
• Research indicates that an over allocation of free allowances to electricity generators can lead to excessive profits for companies, while providing limited benefits in terms of reducing electricity price impacts for consumers and funding energy efficiency and other programs that reduce overall greenhouse gas emissions.
• Emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides have decreased by 40 percent and 46 percent, respectively, since the stricter pollution-control standards of the 1990 Clean Air Act went into effect.
• According to EPA's greenhouse gas inventory, in 2006, power plant carbon dioxide emissions were 29 percent higher than they were in 1990.
• The electric industry accounts for more carbon dioxide emissions than any other sector, including the transportation and industrial sectors.
• In 2006, power plants were responsible for 70 percent of sulfur dioxide emissions, 20 percent of nitrogen oxides emissions, 68 percent of mercury air emissions, and 40 percent of carbon dioxide emissions in the United States.
• Wide disparities in pollution rates persist throughout the electricity industry with a small number of companies producing a relatively large amount of emissions.

See press release for more.

Complete audio of the May 1, 2008 press conference is available here. (Windows Media Audio)

The Benchmarking project uses public data to compare the emissions performance of the 100 largest power producers in the United States, which account for 85 percent of reported electricity generation. Emissions performance is examined with respect to four power plant pollutants: sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, mercury and carbon dioxide. These pollutants cause or contribute to global warming and to environmental and health problems including acid rain, smog, particulate pollution and mercury deposition.