I live very close to a coal powered 550MW power plant. No one has ever complained about mercury, arsenic, acid gas or anything from it. The bass in the cooling lake are huge, and the Fish and Game commission has not banned anyone from eating the fish. The plant lands are deer factories, and bald eagles nest here in winter. I saw one just last week, and I saw 5 head of deer a few minutes ago.
The plant has had precipitators to remove fly ash, and is in the process of installing scrubbers even though they use Powder River coal which is very low in sulfur. They didn't need scrubbers till the enviros began to whine and cry for them.
The enviro nutjobs getting the backing of Dems years back has cost us huge amounts and with a president like Obama these continued pathetic regulations will bankrupt not only many companies but many people and possibly the country.