New Water Quality Trading Program in Ohio River Basin

The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) has received a $1 million Conservation Innovation Grant from the USDA and $400,000 from industry to start Phase II of the Ohio River Basin water quality trading project.  This market-based approach enables facilities facing high pollution control cost to buy reduction credits from entities with lower costs.  EPRI is leading this effort in collaboration with power companies, Federal and state agencies, agricultural organizations, academia, the private sector, and other industry organizations.

First launched in 2009, the project is a first-of-its-kind interstate multi-credit trading program. The project anticipates pilot trades with at least three power plants or other participants and up to 50 farms implementing agricultural conservation best management practices on up to 20,000 acres across Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, West Virginia, Illinois or Tennessee. Nutrient reductions are expected to range up to 45,000 pounds of nitrogen 15,000 pounds of phosphorus annually.

For more information about the program, visit the web site at: www.epri.com/ohiorivertrading.