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December 4, 2003
Contact: Michael Fiorentino - (215) 567-4004 x238
EPA TO PROPOSE
ROLLBACK OF MERCURY RULE
FOR POWER PLANTS; PENNSYLVANIA HAS THIRD-HIGHEST MERCURY
EMISSIONS
New report shows Coal-Fired Plants are Nation's Worst
Source of Toxic Mercury
PHILADELPHIA, PA - Clean Air Council today
released a new report analyzing the latest data on toxic
pollution from power plants. The study, Toxic Neighbors,
found that Pennsylvania ranks third in the nation for mercury
air emissions and overall air toxics emissions from power
plants. The study also found that the old and dirty grandfathered
power plants nationwide released more than 91,000 pounds
of toxic mercury and mercury compounds into the air-more
than any other industrial source.
According to press accounts, EPA intends
to reverse its determination of power plant mercury emissions
as a toxic substance, undoing the requirement to apply tight
new mercury controls by 2007. Leaked copies of the Administration's
plan contain not only a roll back of the EPA's prior decision,
but also emission limits of thirty-four tons of mercury
a year in 2010, and the right for utilities to trade mercury
emission credits.
"Despite EPA's plans for yet another
air quality rollback, Toxic Neighbors clearly shows power
plants to be not just the largest industrial source of smog
and soot, but also far and away the biggest source of mercury,
acid gases and dioxins," said Michael Fiorentino, Air
Program Manager for Clean Air Council. "Pennsylvania's
families should be outraged that these dangerous exposures
to mercury, which cause serious developmental problems in
children, are being allowed to continue at such excessive
levels."
The national study by Clear the Air evaluated
the 2001 Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) data, the nation's
ultimate database of information on how much toxic air,
water and land pollution is released each year by multiple
industries. This data is the most recent TRI data available
and it confirms that electric utilities are responsible
for generating the greatest amount of airborne dioxin and
dioxin-like compounds, which has been shown to cause cancer
even in small quantities. The report also estimates past
and future emissions of several dangerous metals, and summarizes
health effects and exposure pathways.
"This report provides even more proof
of the public health threat posed by power plants in Pennsylvania,"
said Nathan Willcox, Energy and Clean Air Advocate for PennEnvironment.
"Now EPA is taking a big step in the wrong direction,
if we are to have any chance of cleaning up these toxic
neighbors."
According to the Toxic Neighbors, the
most recent data shows that:
- Power plants in Pennsylvania released
59,026,820 pounds of toxic pollution into the air, more
than any other state except North Carolina and Ohio.
- Power plants in Pennsylvania released
7,427 pounds of mercury pollution into the air, more than
any other state except Texas and Ohio. The Keystone Power
Plant in Armstrong County releases more mercury than any
other power plant in the nation.
EPA's actions are all the more deplorable
in view of the Study's documentation of EPA's own analyses
that existing pollution control technology for power plants
can reduce mercury pollution by 90% if applied to the oldest
and dirtiest power plants. The result of the administration's
draft plan is a mercury reduction of only about 30 percent
from current levels. Such reductions with a trading program
will let some plants make only minor reductions, or choose
to buy emissions credits instead of installing any pollution
controls whatsoever to address mercury.
"It's high time for the dirtiest
power plants to reduce the threats that toxic pollutants
pose to our families, our future and our environment,"
said Angela Ledford, Director of Clear the Air. "The
technology is there. The question is whether EPA will propose
power plant mercury standards that will protect public health
by significantly reducing power plant mercury emissions."
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