Clean-Coal Rules Are a Boon for Some

By KRIS MAHER

Stricter federal emissions rules, intended to make exhaust from the nation's smokestacks cleaner, are putting pressure on utilities but are expected to be a boon to providers of pollution-reduction technology for coal-fired power plants.

Companies that make systems for filtering out pollutants such as mercury, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide say they are seeing a surge in demand for their equipment ahead of several new standards proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency earlier this year and expected to start being phased in as early as January 2012.

The proposed rules include a requirement that power plants using coal reduce emissions of mercury by as much as 90% over the next three years, with the goal of preventing tens of thousands of premature deaths from pollution. As utilities rush to comply with the stricter standards and keep their older plants online longer, the market for pollution control and monitoring technology could more than double, to $10 billion in 2014 from $4 billion now, according to the Institute of Clean Air Companies, a trade group.

Mike Durham, chief executive of ADA Environmental Solutions, of Littleton, Colo., predicts the creation of a $700 million market for mercury-reduction technologies over the next three years as a result of the new Mercury and Air Toxics Standards rule proposed in March and set to be finalized on Dec. 16. Utilities spent $160 million on such equipment from 2005 to 2010 related to rules some states put in place, Mr. Durham says.

"It's going to be a huge boon for us," he says of the rule, a draft of which called on power plants to cut mercury emissions 80% to 90% within three years.

Fuel Tech Inc. of Warrenville, Ill., which sells technology for reducing nitrogen-oxide emissions, had $21 million in new orders in the third quarter, up from $8.8 million in the year-earlier quarter, according to Dave Collins, chief financial officer.

The main driver: the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule, which the EPA finalized in July. The rule requires 27 states in the eastern half of the U.S. to reduce power-plant emissions that contribute to ozone, including nitrogen oxide. The reductions must begin in January 2012 with targets achieved by 2014

Analysts say emissions-control technologies like those sold by ADA and Fuel Tech could be vital for utilities by enabling them to keep older plants operating longer, as well as for the coal industry, which faces growing competition from cleaner-burning natural gas being unearthed from deep shale deposits. Indeed, coal-fired net electricity generation fell 4% this year through August from a year earlier, while natural-gas generation rose 1.6%, according to the Energy Information Administration.

"When you couple the environmental regulations with low natural-gas prices, it's going to decrease the economic competitiveness of coal-fired power generation," says Mark Levin, an energy analyst with BB&T Capital Markets, a subsidiary of BB&T Corp. "Utilities are going to have to do a number of things, including using their scrubbers more efficiently or burning less coal."

Mr. Maher is a staff reporter in The Wall Street Journal's Pittsburgh bureau. He can be reached at kris.maher@wsj.com.