News Coverage
EPA rule on mercury gives coal-burners flexibility
Published February 1, 2004
A new federal rule aimed at lowering toxic mercury pollution gives industry the flexibility on planning it sought, but critics say it's vulnerable to legal challenges and doesn't call for any urgent solution.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency rule published Friday would require coal-burning power plants such as those in Alabama to lower toxic mercury emissions. EPA would reduce mercury emissions nationally by 69 percent in 14 years.
"The nice thing about it is it gives us flexibility to plan and to make emission reductions at the most efficient places to do it, as opposed to a mandatory program where you have to put specific controls on this particular power plant," Alabama Power Co. vice president Willard Bowers told The Birmingham News for a story Saturday.
Alabama Power's six plants discharged 4,057 pounds of mercury in 2002. Three others in the state, including two owned by the Tennessee Valley Authority, contribute about 640 pounds annually, according to EPA data compiled by the Environmental Working Group.
Environmentalists said the new rule is not enough to protect the public health because it won't improve air and water quality as quickly or dramatically as possible. Plants that burn coal to produce energy emit about 48 tons of mercury each year in the United States, which the EPA said can be cut to about 15 tons by 2018. A related proposal would cut emissions that cause fine-particle pollution. Both types of pollutants are considered serious threats to the public health. Ron Gore, chief of the air division at the Alabama Department of Environmental Management, said he expects the rule to be challenged in court because it suggests a new interpretation of the Clean Air Act. While ADEM does not have an opinion on the amount of the cap or the deadline, Gore said the agency supports the proposed change because it has been successful in reducing pollutants that cause acid rain. The EPA proposal, known as a cap-and-trade plan, would divide the allowable mercury emissions among the nation's power plants. Plants wishing to exceed their individual emissions caps could buy pollution credits from other plants that fell below their allowed limits.
Gore said if too many Alabama plants buy credits and not reduce mercury emissions, the state could step in and limit the amount of trading. "It's buying and selling the right to pollute," said Eric Schaeffer, a former EPA official who runs the Environmental Integrity Project. "You will not feel better if your plant bought its way out of mercury controls."
Federal regulators plan to hold public hearings on the proposed rules, and the public will be allowed to submit comments before they become final. Mercury is a toxic and persistent pollutant that humans consume mostly through contaminated seafood. Children and women of childbearing age are particularly vulnerable. According to Physicians for Social Responsibility, low-dose mercury exposure can impair brain development.