Posted on 12/21/2011 2:04:06 PM PST by traderrob6
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration on Wednesday unveiled rules for coal-fired power plants that mean costly investments passed on to consumers, but also health benefits.
Hundreds of older plants — which together make up the largest remaining source of unchecked toxic air pollution in the United States — will have to cut emissions or shut down.
"By cutting emissions that are linked to developmental disorders and respiratory illnesses like asthma, these standards represent a major victory for clean air and public health," Lisa Jackson, head of the Environmental Protection Agency, said in a statement.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
Air won’t be cleaner but we will work in the dark and freeze. Great for productivity.
I did not that the only cause of developmental disorders and respiratory illnesses like asthma was coal fired electric plants. This is a huge expensive step for iffy science.
Just askin', cuz they are both CERTIFIABLE, FAR LEFT, LOONS!!!
Under the best scenario we will breath cleaner air, while we freeze our butts off in the dark and pay three times more for what electricity we get rationed out to us as well as pay more for products due to their increased costs of production, refridgeration, etc. It’s a win-win for obama. He screws us and the economy.
Related article from a source not requiring excerpting
Added here to bring additional info to the discussion
EPA tells nation’s dirty power plants to clean up
http://fuelfix.com/blog/2011/12/21/epa-tells-nations-dirty-power-plants-to-clean-up/
Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson unveiled the first-ever national standards for mercury and other toxic emissions from power plants on Wednesday, saying they will save thousands of lives and their health benefits will far outweigh the costs.
Finalized last Friday under a court deadline, the EPA’s Mercury and Air Toxics Standards will cut mercury emissions by 90 percent and make sharp cuts in other toxic chemicals such as acid gases such as arsenic by requiring power plants to install pollution controls. Coincidentally soot emissions also will decrease as a result of the pollution controls power companies need to install.
Supporters such as environmental and health groups and Democrats said the finalization ended 21 years of waiting for standards that cut toxic air pollution from power plants. Congress tasked the EPA with exploring the matter in 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments.
“There has been an enormous health toll to the failure to clean up that mess, and today is a long-overdue and just day of reckoning to finally require that cleanup to happen,” John Walke, clean-air director at the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental group, said in an interview.
The new standards come with a three-year compliance deadline and the possibility of a one-year extension, but don’t contain an extra year for all plants that some in the power sector fought for.
The standards have come under fire from Republicans in Congress and some electric utilities who complained that the EPA didn’t assess the economic effects adequately. They contend that the EPA overstated the benefits and that the rule will force power plants to shut down, costing jobs and raising power rates while threatening electric reliability.
“We all want clean air for our children and communities, but the EPA has not demonstrated that any potential marginal improvements will outweigh the very real threat to our electric reliability,” Rep. Pete Olson, R-Sugar Land, said in a statement.
The rule has a flexibility mechanism that could give power plants another year if reliability concerns arise. It comes in the form of a memorandum from President Obama directing the agency to take that action if needed, Jackson said.
Jackson has said the agency has used Clean Air Act flexibility mechanisms for 40 years and that clean-air rules have never caused the lights to go out.
The rule’s health benefits will outweigh the costs by up to nine-fold, according to the Jackson. She said the rule will prevent 11,000 premature deaths a year and reduce instances of heart attacks, strokes and asthma attacks. She rejected the allegations the EPA was overstating the health benefits.
Republicans have sought to delay implementation and weaken the rule, so far unsuccessfully. Also some electricity-industry officials told federal regulators in late November that they wanted more compliance time to install needed pollution controls while insisting they weren’t trying to delay implementation.
“The time to comply is really the issue at heart,” said Anthony Topazi, chief operating officer for Atlanta-based Southern Co., the fourth-largest U.S. power generator.
A number of coal-fired power plants are located in Texas, which state environmentalists say leads the nation in power-sector mercury emissions. The rule’s finalization represented a major victory for state environmental groups.
“Today President Obama stood up to the polluters and protected kids’ health,” Tessa McClellan, field associate with Environment Texas, said in a statement.
Supporters also say the rule isn’t the job killer that critics say it would be. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairwoman Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., said the law doesn’t destroy jobs but instead ensures healthy citizens and creates thousands of construction and power-sector jobs for implement the standards.
“EPA’s action today will generate jobs and protect the health and safety of families across the country,” Boxer said in a statement.
Even some electric utilities dispute many of their counterparts’ concerns about the rule.
NRG Energy, one of the state’s largest power generators, plans to spend $720 million over five years on upgraded plants and new equipment nationwide to better control emissions, including mercury, nitrogen-oxide and other pollutants.
“Our industry is well-positioned to comply with these rules,” Jack Fusco, CEO of Houston-based Calpine Corp., a Fortune 500 electricity-generating company, told the Wall Street Journal in an letter this month. The company didn’t have anyone immediately available to comment for this story.
The standards replace a George W. Bush-era rule that a court threw out because the EPA unlawfully tried to regulate mercury through an emissions-trading program.
Mercury can cause health issues ranging from birth defects to neurological and developmental problems. Mercury is often ingested when people eat contaminated fish, and mothers can pass on the mercury they absorb to their newborns.
Oh, I'm sure it will be worth it!
Unfortunately I don’t see much changing on that front in the foreseeable future. We can’t even count on most republicans to shut the global warming racket down.
That’s because they have their hand out, as well. The more rules, laws and influence the govt makes and has, the more money they get from supplicants trying to get past govt caused roadblocks.
Hope they can recycle the mercury they capture into making those curly fry bulbs they want in every corner of every room of your home and business.
“Hundreds of older plants — which together make up the largest remaining source of unchecked toxic air pollution...”
I question the accuracy of that statement.
Two of them are here in (m)Assachusetts. Sounds like time to go solar. I’ve already talked it over with a friend of mine in the business. It will pay itself off in seven years with current rebates and tax credits.
Everyday,it’s something else shoved up our butts by this sorry S O B! How in the hell can the bastard have a job approval rating above 20% much less in the 40’s. I know there’s a certain 20% that will approve of anything the jackass does. But Good God Almighty, he has to be stopped and stopped now!
Ping.
We need to be able to criminally charge elected officials for unconstitutional crap.
I bet if Lisa Jackson wants count pass 10 she has to remove her shoes
You have my vote.
Offing Liar...
Offing Liar...
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