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Mercury Regulation Published

The Environmental Protection Agency published a proposed rule on mercury pollution from coal-fired power plants on Dec 15, 2003. The administration hopes to issue a final regulation within a year.  This is the first time mercury (Symbol Hg)is being regulated.  It is the largest air pollution reduction of any kind not specifically mandated by the Congress.

Instead of issuing a command and control regulation requiring the nation's 1,100 coal- and oil-fired power plants to meet a "maximum achievable control technology" (MACT) standard to sharply reduce the mercury pollutants within three years, the administration chose a mandatory "Cap and Trade" program, similar to the successful Acid Rain Program from the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments.  The new program, which would reduce mercury emissions by nearly 70 percent by 2018.

Coal-fired power plants are the nation's largest source of unregulated airborne mercury pollution, sending an estimated 48 tons into the atmosphere annually. The mercury can enter the food chain and threaten public health, especially for children and pregnant women who eat tainted fish.

 

Picture of Mercury

EPA decided to use Section 111 to regulate mercury, instead of the more restrictive Section 112 as part of deliberations over the administration's Clear Skies legislation. There are questions as to whether the trading rule (Interstate Air Quality Rule) is legally supportable. Treating mercury as a lesser pollutant and allowing for trading might not hold up in court. As a legal hedge, the administration simultaneously proposed a second mercury regulation (Utility Mercury Reductions Rule) that would provide a 29 percent reduction in emissions and require all plants to install pollution controls. The EPA had to offer this proposal to comply with a legal requirement.

Mercury Rule Changed To Cap and Trade

The Bush Administration decided on Nov 26 to alter a rule on mercury that was to be issued on Dec 15, 2003.  The administration decided to change the Clinton Administration command and control rule on mercury to a market-based "Cap and Trade" program.  EPA Administrator Michael O. Leavitt also intends to rescind the 2000 EPA rule that requires electric plants to meet a "Maximum Achievable Control Technology" (MACT). EPA also intends to rescind the rule that established mercury as a public health threat.

The cap and trade ruling is being implemented before a Congressionally mandated Clear Skies Initiative is passed. The legality of the ruling will surely be challenged in court.  Moreover, the regulatory approach moves the cap from 26 tons to 34 tons a year and eliminates the 2007 deadline for compliance with the command and control approach.  The administration projects a 70% reduction in mercury emissions by 2018.  EPA has decided that the original findings on mercury were reached due to misreading the Clean Air Act.

Forty-one states have fish consumption advisories due to mercury poisoning.  Coal-fired electric power power plants are the largest sources of mercury pollution, which threatens the public health, especially children and pregnant women.  Mercury poisoning can cause severe neurological and development damage.  Approximately 1,000 power plants are affected by the ruling.

Mercury Regulations Due From EPA Dec 15, 2003

Under the Clean Air Act, the EPA is required to come up with a proposal to regulate mercury (Hg) emissions from coal-fired power plants by December 15. EPA will issue for comments regulations that will require utilities to meet “maximum achievable control technology” standards. Any power plant that exceeds mercury limits would have to install pollution control equipment.

Mercury is linked to lung damage, fatigue and weight loss as well as neurological problems in children, says the EPA. Roughly one-third of all mercury emissions come from coal plants. The Clinton administration ordered the EPA to enact new regulations that controlled the toxin by 2007.

The EPA estimates that roughly two-thirds of all mercury deposited in the U.S. comes from domestic sources and that U.S. power plants account for about one-third of that. Federal lawmakers are actively working to enact legislation while 43 states have mercury warnings and note that too much fish consumption could result in ill health.

Two reports published in 2003 show that it is possible to significantly reduce mercury emissions in the short run and with existing technologies. According to a report by the Northeast States for Coordinated Air Use Management, mercury emissions could be cut from 48 tons annually to 7 tons annually through a combination of existing equipment to control sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide as well as commercially available technologies to curb mercury, the northeast group says. A 10-year, $40 million study performed by the State of Florida, the EPA and the U.S. Geological Survey reaches similar conclusions. It points out that mercury found in Everglades' wildlife dropped by as much as 75 percent since the state embraced the challenge in the early 1990s.   

Several states have either enacted rules or plan to pass laws to battle mercury, which include Massachusetts, New Jersey, Wisconsin, Iowa and Connecticut.  In September 20303 Massachusetts proposed strict rules aimed at cutting mercury emissions from coal-fired generators. Four power plants are subject to the law and have to begin compliance beginning Oct. 1, 2006. The goal: capturing at least 85 percent of the mercury contained in combusted coal. By Oct. 1, 2012, that threshold would rise to 95 percent. Connecticut has already enacted new standards, which allows for flexibility. The collaborative effort among industry, environmentalists and lawmakers produced a rule that is expected to chop mercury emissions from coal generators by 90 percent by 2008.

Most utilities believe a better way to control mercury is to establish an emissions trading scheme such as the one included in the Bush administration 's “Clear Skies” proposal. Mercury-reducing technologies are just now becoming available and have to be tested more to make sure they achieve significant mercury reductions as promised. Southern Co., Allegheny Energy, Duke Energy, Alabama Power and FirstEnergy have tested a new mercury-control system. The initial tests were able to capture 80 percent of those emissions, according to the Department of Energy. 

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AAEA Organization Goals:

1. Protect the environment.
2. Promote the efficient use of natural resources.
3. Enhance human, animal and plant ecologies.
4. Increase African American participation in the environmental movement.
5. Deliver information and services directly into the black community.
6. Clean up neighborhoods by implementing toxics education, energy, water and clean air programs.
7. Include an African American point of view in environmental policy decision-making.
8. Resolve environmental racism and injustice issues through the application of practical environmental solutions.