EPA seeks to dismiss utility lawsuit over mercury
Date: 12-Apr-01
Country: USA
Author: Tom Doggett
The Environmental Protection Agency filed a motion in federal court this week to dismiss an electric industry lawsuit that would stop the EPA from regulating mercury and other toxic air pollutants.
EPA decided last year that a standard was needed for such power plant emissions because of the harm mercury does to people and wildlife. The agency expects to finalize its rules in several years.
However, two industry trade groups taking on the agency, Edison Electric Institute and the Utility Air Regulatory Group, claim in their lawsuit that there is no basis for EPA to regulate such mercury emissions under the Clean Air Act.
EPA's move to protect mercury regulation came as a surprise to environmentalists, given President George W. Bush's decision last month to reverse a campaign pledge to impose limits on carbon dioxide emissions at power plants.
"EPA's action is welcome news that the agency is willing to stand up to the power plant industry," said Felice Stadler, national power director at the National Wildlife Federation, which also filed a motion to dismiss the trade groups' lawsuit.
Bush was worried that imposing carbon dioxide curbs would reduce electricity output at power plants and worsen the energy crisis in the western states, particularly California.
There do not appear to be such concerns about mercury, which is emitted by U.S. power plants at a rate of 100,000 pounds a year.
Mercury is a dangerous toxin in coal, which is used to produce 65 percent of the nation's electricity. When mercury is burned, fine particles are released and carried back to earth via precipitation, contaminating water, fish and wildlife.
"The (electric) industry's lawsuit is groundless," said Neil Kagan, attorney for the National Wildlife Federation. "There is no scientific dispute that mercury damages people and wildlife, that power plants are the largest source of mercury in the U.S. and that power plants are the only major source that have no required mercury controls," he said.
The administration's action came as two senators - Olympia Snowe, a Republican from Maine, and Patrick Leahy, a Democrat from Vermont - urged lawmakers to support the EPA in its latest battle to limit mercury emissions at power plants.
"We urge you to help us bring mercury emissions from electric utility power plants under the strict clean air standards," the lawmakers said in a statement.
Snowe and Leahy have introduced legislation that aims to reduce mercury emissions from all sources, including power plants and municipal waste incinerators.
