EPA proposes to reaffirm Mercury and Air Toxics Standards for power plants
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is proposing to reaffirm the 2012 Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS) for power plants, which requires reductions of mercury, acid gases, and other toxic pollutants.
EPA officials said controlling these types of emissions will improve public health and lead to a reduction in cancer risks, as well as neurodevelopmental delays in children. It is especially important for children and vulnerable segments of the population who live near power plants.
The proposal is in response to President Joe Biden’s Jan. 20, 2021, executive order on “Protecting Public Health and the Environment and Restoring Science to Tackle the Climate Crisis.” It would reverse a rule issued by the previous administration in May 2020, which undermined the legal basis for these vital health protections.
“Sound science makes it clear that we need to limit mercury and toxins in the air to protect children and vulnerable communities from dangerous pollution,” EPA Administrator Michael Regan said. “EPA is committed to aggressively reducing pollution from the power sector so that all people, regardless of zip code or amount of money in their pocket, can breathe clean air and live healthy and productive lives.”
The EPA found that the 2020 action to reverse the rule was based on a fundamentally flawed interpretation of the Clean Air Act that ignored or undervalued vital health benefits from reducing hazardous air pollution from power plants. With this action, the EPA is proposing to reaffirm that it is appropriate and necessary to regulate emissions of hazardous air pollutants from coal- and oil-fired power plants.
Prior to 2012, power plants were the largest domestic source of mercury and other toxic pollutants such as hydrogen chloride and selenium. In addition, they were among the largest domestic contributors of arsenic, chromium, cobalt, nickel, hydrogen cyanide, beryllium, and cadmium.
After the MATS, combined with advancements in the power sector, there have been sharp reductions in harmful pollutants. By 2017, according to the EPA, mercury emissions from power plants were reduced by 86 percent, acid gas emissions were reduced by 96 percent, and non-mercury metal emissions were reduced by 81 percent compared to pre-MATS levels in 2010.
The EPA is also looking into whether more stringent protections for hazardous air pollution from power plants are feasible and warranted. Toward that end, the agency is soliciting information on the performance and cost of new or improved technologies or methods of operation to control hazardous air pollution emissions as part of the proposal.
The Edison Electric Institute (EEI), the association representing all U.S. investor-owned electric companies, spoke in favor of the proposal.
“EEI and our investor-owned electric company members thank Administrator Regan and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for restoring the appropriate and necessary determination underpinning the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS). EEI’s member companies have fully and successfully implemented MATS for years,” EEI President Tom Kuhn said. “EEI’s member companies, and the electric power industry collectively, have invested more than $18 billion to install pollution control technologies to meet these standards. Since 2010, our industry has reduced its mercury emissions by more than 91 percent, and we have seen a significant change in our nation’s energy mix, which is getting cleaner and cleaner every day.”
The EPA will accept comments on the proposal for 60 days after publication in the Federal Register. A virtual public hearing will be announced in the coming weeks.
“These safeguards work—and there’s proof, if you look at the decrease in mortality, asthma, and other health outcomes since they first took effect in 2015,” said John Walke, director of the clean air program at Natural Resources Defense Council. “With the Biden-Harris administration clearing away the Trump EPA’s attempted sabotage of these standards, now EPA needs to strengthen the standards to better protect Americans and U.S. air quality.”
