Still Your Grandfather’s Boiler: Estimating the Effects of the Clean Air Act’s Grandfathering Provisions

The research finds that grandfathering provisions in the U.S. Clean Air Act's New Source Review program created perverse incentives that delayed the retirement of old boilers and increased their operational hours. This regulatory differentiation reduced the probability of a grandfathered boiler retiring by 2.4 percentage points and increased annual operations by approximately 1,150 hours. These effects are estimated to have caused annual societal damages of up to $2.5 billion due to increased SO2 emissions.

• Grandfathering provisions under the New Source Review program decreased the likelihood of a grandfathered boiler retiring in any given year by 2.4 percentage points, representing a 60 percent reduction in probability, and increased annual operations by approximately 1,150 hours.
• The delayed retirement, increased utilization, and higher emission rates of grandfathered boilers are estimated to have resulted in annual societal damages of up to $2.5 billion.
• The study concludes that grandfathering provisions continued to produce strong perverse impacts long after their implementation, despite the introduction of subsequent and more stringent environmental policies.

APA

Pals, S. B. J. G. R. L. R. A. B. (2025). Still Your Grandfather’s Boiler: Estimating the Effects of the Clean Air Act’s Grandfathering Provisions. Institute for Policy Integrity. https://policyintegrity.org/publications/detail/still-your-grandfathers-boiler-estimating-the-effects-of-the-clean-air-acts-grandfathering-provisions

Chicago

Pals, Sylwia Bialek, Jack Gregory, Richard L. Revesz, and Bridget. Still Your Grandfather’s Boiler: Estimating the Effects of the Clean Air Act’s Grandfathering Provisions. Institute for Policy Integrity, 2025. https://policyintegrity.org/publications/detail/still-your-grandfathers-boiler-estimating-the-effects-of-the-clean-air-acts-grandfathering-provisions.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Pals |first1=Sylwia Bialek, Jack Gregory, Richard L. Revesz, and Bridget |title=Still Your Grandfather’s Boiler: Estimating the Effects of the Clean Air Act’s Grandfathering Provisions |publisher=Institute for Policy Integrity |date=12 August 2025 |url=https://policyintegrity.org/publications/detail/still-your-grandfathers-boiler-estimating-the-effects-of-the-clean-air-acts-grandfathering-provisions |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{pals2025still, author = {Pals, Sylwia Bialek, Jack Gregory, Richard L. Revesz, and Bridget}, title = {{Still Your Grandfather’s Boiler: Estimating the Effects of the Clean Air Act’s Grandfathering Provisions}}, institution = {Institute for Policy Integrity}, year = {2025}, month = aug, url = {https://policyintegrity.org/publications/detail/still-your-grandfathers-boiler-estimating-the-effects-of-the-clean-air-acts-grandfathering-provisions}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }