Coal Fired Power: National Mercury Limits Remain Supremes Remand Case Back to Court of Appeals
Posted June 30, 2015, 10:35 am
WASHINGTON,
DC – Yesterday, in a 5-4 decision,
the U.S. Supreme Court remanded the first-ever
national airborne limits on mercury and other
toxic power plant air pollution back to the D.C.
Circuit Court of Appeals and the EPA. The
Supremes found that even though the EPA
demonstrated that health and environmental
benefits would save between 4 and 11 thousand
lives a year, and that the air standards far
outweighed the costs to industry, the EPA should
have considered the cost earlier in the process.
The Court left the standards in place pending consideration by the court below.
The good news is that since April 2015, the majority of the nation's power plants are already in compliance with the higher standards.
The EPA has already evaluated the costs and benefits and the agency should be able to provide the lower court with the cost analysis quickly.
Key conclusions by the EPA
The Supremes did not reject the following key conclusions:
•
Power plants are far and away the worst
industrial polluters.
• Controlling toxic emissions is both
technologically and economically feasible.
• The resulting pollution reductions will yield
between $37 billion and $90 billion in health
benefits every year.
• The public will receive $3–$9 in health
benefits for every $1 that the protections cost
the power industry.
More than 4 million women are exposed to mercury at levels harmful for fetal brain development. The standards will reduce mercury pollution from coal-fired power plants by 75 percent.
Florida contains 12
coal-fired power plants; 11 oil-fired power
plants; 3 coal/oil-fired power plants. They are
likely covered by the Mercury & Air Toxics
Standards.
Additionally, one in 20 Americans is killed by air pollution, and coal-fired power plants are a big part of the problem. These plants are by far the largest industrial source of toxic air pollution, responsible for 50 percent of total U.S. emissions of mercury – a potent neurotoxin particularly dangerous to children.
Earthjustice
Earthjustice, on behalf of Sierra Club, Clean
Air Council, Chesapeake Bay Foundation and the
NAACP, helped defend these health safeguards as
respondent-intervenors.
Lisa Garcia, Earthjustice Vice President of Litigation for Healthy Communities said, "The Supreme Court’s decision does not change the importance of EPA’s role in protecting our families and communities from toxic air pollution. The Court gave EPA the ability to finalize these critical public health protections once and for all. Now, EPA must act quickly. Thousands of lives are at stake. Further delay is not an option.”
Photo of power plant: FlaglerLive
