US EPA Completes Cost/Benefit Analysis of Mercury Rule

© US DOE

According to US EPA, power plants are the largest industrial source of mercury pollution in the U.S.A. and they emit more than half of a range of air toxics, as well as sulphur dioxide and particulates. Based on the determination that air toxic emissions, most notably mercury, pose hazards to public health and the environment and that there are available controls to reduce air toxic emissions from these units, EPA determined on December 20, 2000, that it is appropriate to regulate coal- and oil�fired power plants. On February 16, 2012, EPA published final air toxics standards for coal- and oil-fired power plants also known as the Mercury Air Toxics Standards or "MATS".� The power industry and several states had challenged the rules in federal court. Last June, without blocking the rules from going forward, the Supreme Court said the EPA had failed to properly consider how much their implementation would cost power plants.

The analysis released on Friday, April 15, is EPA's answer to the requirement of a cost analysis demanded by the Supreme Court. The new analysis reaffirms prior determination which shows that compliance with MATS is a very cost-effective way to very significantly reduce a whole host of very dangerous pollutants. The EPA estimated that, nationwide, the new standards would have about $90 billion a year in health benefits, preventing up to 11,000 premature deaths, 4,700 heart attacks and 130,000 asthma attacks annually.

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