Bush Administration Plan to allow utilities to avoid deep cuts in
mercury pollution violates the Clean Air Act
Washington,
D.C. – A federal appeals court
today ruled that the Bush Administration’s rules allowing coal-and oil-fired
power plants to avoid making deep mandatory cuts in mercury and other toxic air
pollution violates the law. The court’s decision invalidates the so-called
“Clean Air Mercury Rule,” which would have allowed dangerously high levels of
mercury air pollution to persist under a weak cap-and-trade program for
utilities that would not have taken full effect until well beyond 2020. EPA’s rule further would have allowed coal- and
oil-fired power plants also to avoid controls on any of other air toxics they
emit, which include arsenic, lead, hydrogen chloride, and nickel.
Environmental
groups, including Environment America (a federation of state environment
groups), challenged the EPA’s suite of rules, along with fourteen states, dozens
of Native American tribes, and public health organizations representing
registered nurses and physicians. Today’s ruling by the United States Court of
Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit strongly rebuked EPA for creating
an illegal loophole for the power generating industry, rather than applying the
toughest emission standards of the Clean Air Act, and completely overturned
both EPA’s delisting rule and the Agency’s cap-and-trade alternative to strict
standards.
“We are thrilled with this decision,” said Environment
California’s Jason Barbose. “EPA’s rule would have worsened the already high
levels of mercury contamination near power plants. Research shows that deep cuts in industrial mercury
emissions translate to cleaner lakes, rivers, and estuaries, and lower levels
of mercury in fish and wildlife.”
Power plants spew 48 tons of mercury into the air each year,
yet only 1/70th of a teaspoon of mercury is needed to contaminate a
25-acre lake to the point where fish are unsafe to eat. Recent research by NOAA confirms that watersheds
such as the Chesapeake Bay and the Great Lakes
exhibit high levels of contamination in local fish and wildlife, and EPA’s own
research shows that local coal-fired power plants are a significant contributor
to local contamination. In addition,
EPA estimates that as many as 600,000 babies are born annually with
irreversible brain damage because pregnant mothers ate mercury-contaminated
fish.
“The court has now told EPA in no uncertain terms to follow
the law as it is written. We are looking forward to working on rules that
reflect the most stringent controls achievable for this industry, as the Clean
Air Act requires,” said Ann Weeks, attorney for Clean Air Task Force who
represented Environment America and three other environmental organizations in
the case. “That’s what is needed to
alleviate the public health issues associated with mercury contamination in
fish and wildlife.”
