PORTLAND, ME
Environment America Applauds Federal Court
Ruling Vacating Illegal EPA Power Plant Mercury Cap and Trade Rule
Bush Administration Plan to allow utilities to avoid deep cuts in
mercury pollution violates the Clean Air Act
PORTLAND,
ME – 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.
"This ruling confirms what we've been saying from the beginning- the
Bush Administration flagrantly disregarded the requirements of the
Clean Air Act," said Matthew Davis, Organizational Development
Director. "We fully understand the dangers of mercury and should not
gamble with the health of our children and the environment."
Environmental
groups, including Environment Maine (as U.S. PIRG), challenged the EPA’s suite
of rules, along with fourteen states, dozens of Native American tribes, and public
health and other and 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 Matthew Davis, of
Environment Maine. “EPA’s rule would have worsened the already high levels of
mercury contamination in Maine’s
watersheds, as well as smaller local watersheds near coal-fired power plants. Our members already experience higher than
average mercury emissions, and can’t eat many locally caught fish species
because of concern about mercury contamination.
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 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 U.S. PIRG 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.”
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Environment America is the
federation of state Environment groups, such as Environment Maine, and is the
new home of U.S. PIRG’s environmental work.
