The United States Environmental Protection Agency has set new standards for power plants that could affect Illinois residents’ walllets. The new Cross-State Air Pollution Rule is an attempt by the EPA to improve air quality by requiring plants to install or upgrade pollution control equiptment.

Phil Gonet, president of the Illinois Coal Association, said the new rules will come with a cost.

“Well, it’s gonna have a negative impact on consumers, I mean this pollution control equipment is not cheap — and I don’t think EPA recognizes that when they impose these rules,” Gonet said. “I mean, consumers are gonna pay higher costs of electricity.”

Dave Kolata, executive director of the Citizens Utility Board, disagrees. He said Illinois residents won’t see a rate hike in the short term. If anything, he said residents might see an increase further down the road, but only if other energy saving policies aren’t put into place.

The Cross-State Air Pollution Rule is a replacement of the 2005 Clean Air Interstate Rule. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ordered EPA to revise the CAIR in 2008. The EPA estimates the new standards will cost $800 million annually after 2014, in addition to the $1.6 billion per year in capital investments from CAIR.

The new standards will be implemented in 28 states by 2012. The EPA estimates that these changes will reduce sulfur dioxide emissions by 73 percent and nitrogen dioxide emissions by 54 percent from 2005 levels.