PPL Corporation (NYSE: PPL) today announced its support for President Bush’s Clear Skies air emissions reduction initiative.

The Clear Skies initiative provides a realistic framework for a successful national emissions reduction program, representatives from PPL and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said during a morning press conference in Allentown, Pa.

"It is clear that the current regulatory system doesn’t provide a comprehensive and cost-effective means to achieving cleaner air," said Jim Seif, PPL’s vice president of Corporate Services and former Secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection. "The president’s initiative provides aggressive reduction goals and a realistic timeline to meet these goals. We applaud his efforts."

First introduced early in 2002, the president’s proposal would create a mandatory emissions reduction program establishing a national cap for power plant air emissions of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide and mercury.

Seif said the Clean Air Act is a mix of emissions requirements that rely on interpretation by the EPA. He said the result is an approach that often leads to litigation.

EPA Region 3 Administrator Donald Welsh agreed that the time has come for change in the nation’s air emissions strategy.

"I’m pleased that PPL is supporting this important initiative, and I encourage other companies to step up and do the right thing as well," said Welsh. "I applaud PPL for their efforts and look forward to working with them on ways to make the air cleaner, the water purer and the land better protected."

Seif said the president’s approach was modeled after the successful acid rain program that was incorporated in the Clean Air Act amendments in 1990. The acid rain program established a significantly lower emissions cap for sulfur dioxide on a nationwide basis, resulting in a significant reduction in sulfur dioxide emissions nationwide.

"Like the acid rain program, Clear Skies gives energy companies the planning certainty necessary to achieve emissions reductions and the flexibility to plan for capital improvements and maintain a reliable source of energy," Seif said.

PPL operates coal, oil, natural gas, nuclear and hydroelectric generating facilities in Pennsylvania, Maine, Connecticut, New York, Illinois, Montana and Arizona.

Seif said that since 1990, the company has significantly reduced the emissions addressed in Clear Skies through its PPL Project Earth program. The reductions have occurred because of technology upgrades, changes in fuel and the addition of cleaner forms of energy production.