Also, the Saudis believe that only a moderate price will encourage utilities and heavy industrial users that have switched to coal, natural gas and nuclear energy to begin using oil again.

In theory, market forces will encourage utilities that can cut pollution the most for the least investment in scrubbers or fuel changes to lead the way.

Regulation that encouraged utilities to switch to natural gas rather than to "scrub" the offending chemical from coal smoke would serve as a double whammy, reducing carbon emissions as well as sulfur.

In New York, regulators say they have encouraged utilities to examine the remote shutoff valves and to determine whether they would work on their systems.

By 1978, Congress recognized that efficiency at central power plants had stagnated and sought to encourage improved efficiency with the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act (PURPA), which encouraged utilities to buy power from other energy producers.

In 1982, as part of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act, Congress foresaw the impending storage pool problem and encouraged utilities to build alternate nuclear waste sites.

"The flexibility of the trading program has encouraged utilities to capitalize on advantageous trends, such as changing fuel prices and technological innovation that might have been delayed or discouraged by traditional regulatory approaches."

The President's plan includes incentives to encourage utilities to use new anti-pollution devices so they can burn high-sulfur coal, which the nation has in abundance, without emitting large amounts of sulfur into the air.

In addition, the LPSC is one of many regulators around the country that encourages and allows utilities to purchase natural gas in advance at a guaranteed price to protect against price spikes.

The legislators who passed new-source review expected the law to encourage electric utilities to replace old, heavily polluting coal-fired plants with cleaner new ones.