EDF, Allies Call on EPA to Strengthen Protections against Coal Plant Mercury and Toxic Air Pollution

(Washington, D.C. – June 26, 2023) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency should promptly finalize its proposal to strengthen the U.S. Mercury and Air Toxics Standards and include several necessary improvements that will further protect millions of people from some of the most hazardous pollutants in our air, according to comments filed by the Environmental Defense Fund and a coalition of environmental groups.

“Strong clean air standards are vital for safeguarding the health of all people from the mercury and other toxic pollutants discharged from coal plant smokestacks,” said EDF Clean Air Legal Fellow Richard Yates. “In the Clean Air Act, Congress specifically requires EPA to set standards for these especially dangerous pollutants that reflect the maximum achievable reductions. EPA's adoption of strengthened Mercury and Air Toxics Standards would keep people and communities safer from coal plant smokestack pollution by requiring protective limits and rigorous monitoring that reflect modern technologies.”

Mercury pollution from coal-burning power plants impairs the brain development of young children and is linked to deadly heart attacks and hypertension in adults. Other toxic pollutants from power plants include cancer-causing nickel, arsenic, and hexavalent chromium, as well as five other probable carcinogens such as lead.

The Mercury and Air Toxics Standards have slashed levels of these pollutants since EPA first adopted them in 2012 and did it for less than one-quarter of what EPA originally estimated it would cost. However, many coal plants in the U.S. are still emitting high levels of toxic pollution, and it has been a decade since EPA last updated the standards as required by our nation’s clean air laws.

EPA unveiled its proposal to modernize Mercury and Air Toxics Standards in April. The proposal would strengthen pollution limits and increase monitoring for toxic air pollution released by coal-fired power plants. The update addresses harmful air pollution by proposing more stringent control of non-mercury metal toxics and by removing the lignite coal loophole. Currently, power plants burning lignite coal are subject to a loophole that allows them to meet a much weaker mercury standard. Under the proposal, lignite plants would be required to meet the same mercury emissions standard as coal plants burning other coal types.

The comments filed by EDF and its allies “strongly support strengthening” the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards while also calling for changes to reflect technological advances that now allow coal plants to reach lower emissions levels at less cost.

“The 2012 Mercury and Air Toxics Standards … have proven to be one of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s greatest success stories. Under this rule, emissions of mercury, toxic metals, and acid gases from the electric power sector have declined dramatically, while compliance costs have remained far below projected levels,” the groups say in their comments. They add that “in the intervening years, control measures have improved beyond what was known at the time: better-than-expected removal capabilities, lower costs, and enhanced materials and control techniques have all unlocked further reductions in harmful emissions from coal-fired [plants]. EPA has a statutory obligation to secure the cleaner air now available.”

The coalition submitting the comments includes EDF and Air Alliance Houston, Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Citizens for Pennsylvania’s Future, Clean Air Council, Clean Air Task Force, Clean Wisconsin, Downwinders at Risk, Earthjustice, Environmental Integrity Project, Environmental Law & Policy Center, Montana Environmental Information Center, Natural Resources Council of Maine, Natural Resources Defense Council, Sierra Club, and Southern Environmental Law Center.

You can read the joint comments here.