PLEASE RESERVE MONDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 26TH FOR THE NEXT MEETING OF THE MONVALLEY CLEAN AIR COALITION......
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In March, EPA extended the deadline for mercury controls at power plants from 2008 to 2018, and they relaxed the amount of control required. Earlier today the U.S. Senate rejected the motion by Senator Leahy (D-VT) to reverse the March decision of EPA. See the details in the article below. So friends, we are in for a long battle over mercury control. [Scrubbers on the Ft. Martin plant will help with mercury control, of course.]
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U.S. Senate Upholds EPA's Power-Plant Mercury Reduction Rule Sept. 13, 2005. (Bloomberg News Service) -- Christopher Martin in Chicago
The U.S. Senate voted today to uphold an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rule allowing creation of an emissions-credits trading system to reduce mercury pollution from coal-fired power plants.
A majority of fifty-one senators voted to reject a resolution overturning the rule sponsored by Senator Patrick Leahy, a Democrat from Vermont. The rule was adopted by the EPA as an alternative to a proposal under the administration of former President Bill Clinton that would have required plant operators to install controls to reduce mercury emissions.
The EPA in March set the first limits on airborne mercury pollution from coal-fired plants, the largest man-made source of the substance. The Bush administration wants to set up industry- supported markets for mercury so that plant operators that don't meet emissions limits can buy credits from those that upgrade their equipment, under a system known as cap-and-trade.
Health and environmental groups including the Natural Resources Defense Council Club and Physicians for Social Responsibility joined 13 states in a lawsuit challenging the EPA's decision to remove mercury from a list of toxic substances regulated by the Clean Air Act. That finding would require the installation of equipment to limit emissions.
Cost of Controls
Power plant mercury emissions were added to the list by former EPA Administrator Carol Browner in 2000, just before the end of Clinton's second term. The EPA removed mercury from the list of toxics when it published the rule in March. Supporters of the cap-and-trade system say the marketplace is the most efficient means to cut pollution. Forcing utilities to upgrade power plants would cost as much as $358 billion over the next three years, raising power prices and harming the economy, according to an estimate by the Energy Department's Energy Information Administration, the supporters note.
Opponents of the rule say a cap-and-trade market would lead to ``hot spots'' of contamination near power plants that don't install controls. They want all power plants to install controls.
The EPA and the Food and Drug Administration last year recommended that women who could become pregnant, nursing mothers and young children avoid fish with high mercury levels. The department and health groups have said that mercury can damage the nervous systems of infants and children.