A long overdue regulation in the view of supporters. Sure to be challenged by Republicans in Congress and ongoing lawsuits from some utilities.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency – EPA- today has issued Mercury and Air Toxics Standards. If the controversial standards go forward, they will be the first national regulations covering powerplant emissions of mercury and toxic air pollution with arsenic, acid gas, nickel, selenium, and cyanide.
The regulations essentially mandate the use of technologies such as scrubbers and catalysts that are already in use at many coal burning powerplants. The battle over the standards goes back more than 20 years when Congress passed the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments and mandated that EPA require control of toxic air pollutants including mercury. Several dirty powerplants will likely be scrapped as a result. The auto industry of course leads in the adoption of advanced pollution control technology.
Environmentalists say more battles are ahead in “pay to play” Washington, DC during what likely will be the most expensive presidential election in history – literally awash with billions in “contributions” from the extremely wealthy or ‘One Percenters’ and large corporations. Some extremist Republicans running for president want to abolish the EPA entirely. Conservationists claim that this is the most anti-environmental U.S. House of Representatives in history. This argument is difficult to counter on narrow grounds if you consider that this year the House Republican majority has brought 191 votes to the floor aimed at weakening agencies or regulations that protect the environment and public health, or so claims Public Citizen.
Powerplants – the largest remaining sources these pollutants – are responsible for half of the mercury and more than 75% of the acid gas emissions in the United States. More than half of all coal-fired power plants already have pollution control technologies that can help them meet standards. Once final, the standards will “level the playing field by ensuring the remaining plants – about 40 percent of all coal fired power plants – take similar steps to decrease dangerous pollutants,” EPA said.
“Sadly, this rule isn’t about public health,” claimed Senator James Inhofe of Oklahoma in a statement. “It is a thinly veiled electricity tax that continues the Obama administration’s war on affordable energy and is the latest in an unprecedented barrage of regulations that make up EPA’s job-killing regulatory agenda,” said the senior Republican of the Environment and Public Works Committee, vowed to block the new regulation.
“Our children and grandchildren will inherit a safer world thanks to the leadership of President Obama and Administrator Jackson. At long last, these prudent and overdue limits on unchecked mercury and toxic air pollution will ensure our fish will be safe to eat, and our children can breathe easier,” said Larry Schweiger of the National Wildlife Federation.
EPA estimates that manufacturing, engineering, installing and maintaining the pollution controls to meet these standards will provide employment for thousands, potentially including 46,000 short-term construction jobs and 8,000 long-term utility jobs.
EPA also estimates that for every dollar spent to reduce pollution from power plants, the American public will see up to $9 in health benefits. The total health and economic benefits of this standard are estimated to be as much as $90 billion annually.
See also:
- America Recycles Day Commemorated By EPA
- EPA Ordered to Check State Plans Cutting Haze Pollutants
- EPA to Study Hydraulic Fracturing Effects on Drinking Water
- EPA Tells Pennsylvania to Improve Air Quality in New Jersey
