EPA Announces Results of the Sixteenth Annual Sulfur Dioxide Auction:
(3/27/08) On March 25, 2008, EPA held the acid rain auction giving private citizens, brokers and power plants the opportunity to buy and sell sulfur dioxide (SO2) allowances, as part of the cap and trade program to reduce acid rain. When fully implemented in 2010, the Acid Rain Program will have cut SO2 emissions by 50 percent from 1990 levels. ...
The auction includes two types of allowances: 125,000 offered for use in 2008 and 125,000 additional allowances offered seven years in advance to help provide stability in planning for capital investments. These advance allowances will be available for use in 2015. The number of allowances a source purchases will not permit them to emit SO2 at a level that would violate the health-based national ambient air quality standard. The weighted average of winning bids for 2008 is $389.91.
32 of the 125,000 bids in the spot market were purchased by various groups (e.g., Acid Rain Retirement Fund, Bates College Environmental Economics) for the purposes of taking a ton of SO2 off the market.