News Coverage
Mercury worries rising
Proposals that let polluting industries set the rules
Published February 12, 2004
The Bush administration apparently has grown so cozy with the industries it regulates that it's now willing to let them write the regulations.
The Environmental Protection Agency recently presented three possible rule changes regarding mercury emissions from power plants. One plan contained a dozen paragraphs lifted in whole or part from memos prepared by a law firm for utilities, according to The Washington Post.
EPA officials say the cut-and-paste job wasn't intentional and, in any event, didn't involve the plan favored by the administration. The White House is backing a program that would allow power plants to sell "pollution credits" to each other.
The credit program would set a general cap on emissions in specific geographic areas. It's viewed as a way to generate money that could enable older plants to upgrade.
Unfortunately, the memo snafu is indicative of the lackadaisical attitude that the EPA is taking toward mercury, a toxic metal that's showing up in increasingly high levels in tuna and other fish and in shellfish. Mercury causes numerous neurological problems, including brain damage.
Two groups -- the National Academy of Sciences and an EPA advisory panel on children's health concerns -- recently issued reports warning that the Bush plan could create new "hot spots" in U.S. communities where power plants choose to buy credits rather than lower mercury emissions.
EPA officials should take those warnings seriously. If they want to insert paragraphs from outside sources into their proposals, the two reports would be more pertinent than anything the industry is offering.