What steps have power plants taken to reduce the amount of sulfur oxides released into the air?

There are many ways the lessen the sulfur oxide emission and it depends from power plant to power plant. The common steps in reducing the sulfur emission are:

1.                  improved efficiency of conversion of fuel to electricity (this would reduce pollutant emissions per unit of electricity generated);

2.                  shift to nuclear generation as rapidly as possible since no sulfur oxide (or particulate) is emitted from nuclear plants;

3.                  shift fossil fuel plants to lower sulfur fuels;

4.                  removal of sulfur from coal before combustion, or of the sulfur oxide after combustion, but before it enters the stack: the techniques to be considered are

a.      coal preparation (conventional and advanced technology);

b.      solvent refined coal;

c.      low sulfur, low BTU gas from coal;

d.      fluidized bed combustion;

5.      shift fuel consumption from electricity to pipeline grade gas made from coal or to solar energy.

affects the water bodies: excessive use of fertilizers causes eutrophication. the fertilizers which are used on plants affect the quality of land on which it is used, further causing erosion of soil. the fertilizers used on plants contain harmful chemical fumes which affect the environment.