Illinois CAIR Rulemaking

• Client: Several large coal-fired power plants
• Date: February 2007
• Location: Statewide in Illinois

Summary:

Schiff Hardin represented several large coal-fired power plants opposing certain aspects of Illinois EPA's proposal to comply with the federal Clean Air Interstate Rule ("CAIR").

Illinois chose to participate in the federal trading programs for emissions of nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxide (SO₂ is a precursor to fine particulate matter; NOx is a precursor to both fine particulate matter and ozone). The Illinois CAIR, in a departure from the federal rule, requires a 25 percent set-aside for specified clean-air type projects, called the Clean Air Set-Aside or CASA. The federal CAIR, challenged by numerous parties in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, was subsequently remanded without vacatur in North Carolina v. EPA, 550 F.3d 1176 (2008).