U.S. may rescind rules on mercury

By Eric Pianin
The Washington Post

	Mike Leavitt
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WASHINGTON — The Bush administration is working to undo regulations that would force power plants to sharply reduce mercury emissions and other toxic pollutants, according to a government document and interviews with officials.

The Nov. 26 document makes the case that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), under President Clinton, misread the Clean Air Act's requirements and there are less onerous ways to reduce the emissions.

Until recently, the EPA was on track to issue new rules this month requiring the nation's 1,100 coal- and oil-fired power plants to install equipment to achieve the maximum possible reductions in mercury and nickel emissions, which can cause severe neurological and developmental damage in humans.

The plan has drawn fierce resistance from industry groups and their congressional allies who say the new regulations would be excessively costly and should be softened or delayed beyond the 2007 target date.

Now, the White House and EPA Administrator Mike Leavitt are considering rescinding a December 2000 EPA ruling that concluded mercury emissions are a public-health menace that requires power plants to meet a "maximum achievable control technology" (MACT) standard to sharply reduce toxic pollutants.

Last night, Leavitt confirmed the EPA might reverse the Clinton-era ruling in favor of a more flexible enforcement system.

The alternative, the document says, would be a mandatory "cap and trade" program, similar to the successful program to combat acid rain that was begun in 1990. It would allow utilities to buy emissions "credits" from cleaner-operating plants to meet an overall industry target.

The approach, environmentalists say, would save the utility industry hundreds of millions of dollars while ensuring a relatively high level of mercury pollution for years to come. Most utilities, they say, could achieve the reduction targets as a "co-benefit" or byproduct of reducing carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxide, without having to add special equipment to cut mercury emissions.

Coal-fired power plants are the nation's largest source of unregulated, airborne mercury pollution, sending an estimated 48 tons into the atmosphere annually.

The mercury can enter the food chain and threaten public health, especially children and pregnant women who eat tainted fish. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently found that 8 percent of women of childbearing age had mercury in their blood exceeding levels the EPA deemed safe.

The draft EPA proposal, under review by the Office of Management and Budget, would limit mercury emissions nationwide to 34 tons a year by 2010. That is about 30 percent below current levels but far less than the 26-ton limit originally proposed by the Bush administration as part of its "Clear Skies" initiative. Administration officials say the "cap and trade" approach would achieve 70 percent reductions by 2018.

S. William Becker, executive director of two bipartisan associations of state environmental officials, called the administration proposal "an insult to public health and the environment. At a time when 41 states have fish-consumption advisories due to mercury poisoning, it is unconscionable that EPA is proposing to postpone and weaken regulatory protection."

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