It is only going to get worse if we don’t bring the federal government under control and send some sanity to Washington.
EPA finalizes air-toxics rule for power plants, likely will unveil it today
http://fuelfix.com/blog/2011/12/20/epa-finalizes-air-toxics-rule-for-power-plants-likely-will-unveil-it-tomorrow/
Posted on December 20, 2011 at 5:58 pm by Puneet Kollipara
The Environmental Protection Agency is expected to announce its first-ever standards for mercury and other toxic emissions from power plants today, capping a longtime debate over a rule that Republicans and some utilities have decried and environmental and health groups have hailed.
The agency said in a statement it was planning to make a “significant Clean Air Act announcement” this afternoon featuring Administrator Lisa Jackson. Stakeholders such as environmentalists say they’re virtually certain the EPA will be unveiling the long-anticipated Mercury and Air Toxics Standards for power plants, also known as the Utility MACT rule.
The EPA confirmed it had finalized the rule in accordance with a court deadline for Dec. 16. The Utility MACT rule will require a roughly 90 percent cut in mercury emissions from generating units at more than 500 power plants running on coal and oil. The plants also will have to cut other toxic emissions such as acid gases and arsenic.
Congress first tasked the EPA with considering toxic air pollutants in the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments. The agency has said until now it has acted on that directive for every source of the emissions except power plants.
Environmental groups, lauding the agency for finally addressing the issue, have said cited EPA data in saying the rule would save 17,000 lives a year and reduce serious diseases. And environmentalists in Texas have noted the state’s power plants lead the nation in emissions of mercury, a metal that can cause birth defects and neurological problems. People usually ingest it when they eat seafood containing it.
Republicans in Congress, however, have alleged the Obama EPA didn’t adequately assess how the rule would affect electric-grid reliability. Some utilities have said they will have no choice but to shutter some of their power plants — which the rule’s critics say could threaten reliability and cause blackouts.
The EPA puts the cost of the rule at more than $10 billion a year — a point that Republican critics have pointed out in criticizing the rule as an example of regulatory overreach. But the EPA says the health benefits of the rule would exceed the costs by anywhere from five- to 13-fold. The agency also has rejected the notion its air rules would cause blackouts, saying they’ve never done so in 40 years.
That's interesting... there was a lengthy article in ChemicalWeek magazine this week that said the EPA had agreed to re-visit the rules, and has dramatically scaled back the limits they were going to propose. In addition, at the behest of industry lobbyist, they added a bunch of sub-categories for exceptions that would allow most power plants additional time to comply.
The article did say the rules would be announced soon... with time for public comment before implementation in the Spring of 2012. They made it sound like some major concessions were granted.
Why stop there?
Why not require a 100% cut in emissions?
Utopia is achievable and the cost doesn't matter so these enviro nuts think.
Heck, why not just demand that electricity magically happen? These leftist nutcases seem to think they can just demand the impossible and it happens.