By Mike Boyer
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Cinergy Corp. will reduce its emissions of greenhouse gases, linked by researchers to global warming, by 5 percent by 2010, the company will announce today.

The Cincinnati-based utility, under fire from environmentalists for not completing a nearly 3-year-old pollution settlement with the federal government, is the first predominantly coal-fired utility to make a voluntary commitment to reduce greenhouse gases.

AIR POLLUTANTS

Carbon dioxide: It's a naturally occurring gas, but its levels also can be increased by human activities, because carbon dioxide is one of the byproducts when a fuel isn't burned completely. In this case, the fuel is typically coal, which is carbon-based. Carbon dioxide has been labeled a "greenhouse" gas because it has the ability to trap heat in the atmosphere. How these gases pose a threat to humans and the environment through global warming has been hotly debated in the United States, although many other nations are acting to reduce them. Carbon dioxide shouldn't be confused with carbon monoxide, although both are colorless, odorless gases. Carbon monoxide: This is a component of motor vehicle exhaust, which contributes about 56 percent of all carbon monoxide emissions nationwide, according to the EPA. Power plants contribute little to carbon monoxide pollution, which can cause health problems for people with heart conditions. Carbon monoxide also can affect the central nervous system and help contribute to smog. The federal and state governments regulate air quality for six major kinds of pollutants, including carbon monoxide. Two other pollutants on that list, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides, are strongly linked to power plants. In fact, Cinergy reached a tentative deal several years ago to end a federal lawsuit over such emissions from two of its plants. Sulfur dioxide: EPA says more than 65 percent of sulfur dioxide emissions come from electric utilities - especially those that burn coal. Sulfur dioxide can cause breathing problems for people with asthma. It's also associated with acid rain (which some think harms lakes and streams in areas downwind of power plants), as well as damaging forests and crops and accelerating the deterioration of paint and stone building materials. Nitrogen oxides: This is the generic term for a group of highly reactive gases, all of which contain nitrogen and oxygen in varying amounts. Many are colorless and odorless (although nitrogen dioxide, along with particles in the air, can often be seen as a reddish-brown layer over many urban areas). EPA says 49 percent of the nation's nitrogen oxide pollution can be traced to vehicles, while 27 percent comes from power plants. Nitrogen oxides are converted by sunlight to form ozone or smog pollution, which damages human lungs. They also are among the greenhouse gases and have been linked to water pollution in such areas as the Chesapeake Bay.

Cinergy said it would spend $21 million to reduce its emissions of carbon dioxide and five other greenhouse gases below the company's 2000 level of 67 million tons.

It isn't known whether ratepayers or stockholders will pay for the improvements, because Cinergy hasn't decided how it will spend the money. There's a residential rate freeze in Ohio through 2005, but some of the costs could be passed on to customers in Kentucky and Indiana.

CEO James Rogers said the commitment fulfills the utility's 2002 decision to sign on as a charter member of President Bush's Climate Leaders program.

As an alternative to the Kyoto accord on global warming, Bush asked private industry to voluntarily reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Cynthia Cummins, manager of the Climate Leaders program for the federal Environmental Protection Agency, said 46 companies have agreed to join the program. Only 10 have announced their commitment to reduce greenhouse gases, she said.

Cinergy is the first of five utilities to announce its goal, she said.

"We believe it's an aggressive target,'' she said.

"This is very significant,'' said Jessica Holliday, director of the Partnership for Climate Action at Environmental Defense.

To fulfill the commitment, Cinergy has agreed to work with Environmental Defense, a New York City nonprofit organization working on market-based environmental solutions, on ways to achieve the goal and pick a third party to audit Cinergy's performance.

"Cinergy isn't afraid of committing to real results,'' she said. "It's the most aggressive U.S. utility target I'm aware of.''

While applauding Cinergy's commitment, Kurt Walzer, spokesman for the Ohio Environmental Council, said, "The problem is we don't have national policy for dealing with heat-trapping gases from coal-fired generating plants. You can't deal with global warming through voluntary measures,'' he said.

Rogers disagreed.

"We recognize the potential significance of climate change and believe that voluntary programs can be implemented more quickly and effectively than traditional regulatory programs,'' he said.

The parent of Cincinnati Gas & Electric Co. said it plans to use a combination of new technology, carbon sequestration, demand-side management, energy conservation, improving the efficiency of its generation plants and emission offsets to achieve the goal.

Rogers said Cinergy's commitment strikes a balance between the president's voluntary approach and the more severe requirements of bipartisan legislation introduced by U.S. Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn.

The McCain-Lieberman bill would require reductions to 2000 levels by 2010 and to 1990 levels by 2016.

Rogers said Cinergy's commitment is a good business decision because it reduces the company's greenhouse gas emissions while allowing it to continue burning coal to provide lower-cost power to customers.

The $21 million commitment includes research and development into new technology to deal with greenhouse gases. Cinergy said it would strive to spend at least two-thirds of the money on projects to reduce emissions from its generation, transmission and distribution systems.

Because Cinergy sees about 2 percent growth in its electric generation annually, the total greenhouse gas reduction will be greater than the target, Rogers said.

Holliday agreed. She said setting a target leads to goals being achieved quicker and exceeding expectations.

Cinergy, which said its electric generating plants account for about 1 percent of worldwide greenhouse gas emissions, said it would report annually on progress toward the 2010 goal and evaluate the goal again in 2010 to set another target beyond that.

Besides carbon dioxide, the other greenhouse gases are methane, nitrogen oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbon and sulfur hexafluoride.

The company's voluntary commitment comes just two weeks after the EPA said it lacks authority under the Clean Air Act to regulate carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases from automobiles.

The agency said Congress hadn't granted it authority to deal with carbon dioxide as it had with other pollutants such as sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide.

E-mail mboyer@enquirer.com