Relaxed standards and violators
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The Clean Air Act of the 1970’s included a loophole for older plants that do not comply with new regulations. The majority of these plants are still operating.
In the past 10 years, the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) took action against 51 power plants in 12 Midwestern and Southern states for pollution violations. However, in June 2001, EPA froze investigations and enforcement actions.
Current EPA regulations require that power plants reduce mercury emissions by 21 percent by 2010 and 70 percent by 2018. States have until November 17, 2006 to adopt their own stricter standards.
In March 2005, however, federal regulations were adopted that, through “banking” (capping and trading), allowed utilities to assign mercury emissions from a complying plant to a non-complying plant. Critics say this essentially allows power plants to postpone compliance until 2018 and may result in concentrated areas of mercury emissions around certain generating stations.
Despite governmental directives, because of various exemptions, EPA estimates that there will only be a 43 percent reduction in mercury emissions by 2026. If regulations were enforced on all (old and new) coal-fired power plants, mercury emissions from power plants already would be reduced by 90 percent.
Some states, including Wisconsin, Minnesota and New Jersey, are placing greater restrictions on mercury emissions. Kentucky has not done so.
The technology is available to reduce mercury emissions to a safe level. A Pennsylvania group promoting tougher mercury emission controls estimates that such controls would cost the average household $1.08 a month.
Opponents of those controls say the plan “would cost billions and billions of dollars” and that utilities should not be expected to install expensive controls since power plant emissions produce such a small percentage of mercury emissions worldwide.
They point to the significant reductions in mercury since the 1990s, and that it is more important to convince other countries, particularly China, to reduce emissions.