HARRISBURG – Gov. Edward G. Rendell announced that Pennsylvania’s Independent Regulatory Review Commission has approved a plan to cut toxic mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants in Pennsylvania by 90 percent by 2015. The state-specific plan would supersede a weaker rule put in place by the federal government.
“This is a landmark victory for environmental protection and public health in Pennsylvania,” Rendell said. “We cannot accept that our state is laden with more toxic mercury pollution than nearly anywhere else in the nation and do nothing about it. The state-specific plan will change that by keeping our residents safe and the environment clean, and enhancing efforts to attract new investment to our commonwealth with the promise of a higher quality of life.”
IRRC voted 3-2 to approve the two-step state-specific plan that requires an 80 percent reduction in mercury emissions by 2010, and a 90 percent reduction by 2015. Unlike the federal program, trading of mercury allowances is prohibited under Pennsylvania’s proposal.
The Department of Environmental Protection has submitted the approved state-specific plan to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for review. States had until Friday to notify EPA about how they intend to comply with the federal rule or implement and enforce their own more protective standards for coal-fired power plants.
Pennsylvania’s rulemaking still requires review by the state attorney general before becoming final. The state legislature also reserved for itself an additional 14 days for possible further consideration of the plan.
IRRC’s approval follows a 17-3 endorsement in October by the state’s Environmental Quality Board, also an independent regulatory review panel. EQB received 10,934 responses — a record for a rulemaking in Pennsylvania — during a lengthy public comment period. Nearly all of the commentators supported Governor Rendell’s approach over the ineffective federal rule; fewer than three dozen opposed the state plan.
“A great deal of effort has been invested in the development and review of this plan, which means so much for the health of our residents, the environment and Pennsylvania’s economy,” DEP Secretary Kathleen A. McGinty said. “The benefits that Pennsylvania will achieve by taking effective action to reduce mercury emissions are significant.”
Pennsylvania has 36 plants with 78 electric generating units that represent 20,000 megawatts of capacity. The commonwealth is second, behind only Texas, both in terms of total mercury emissions from all sources and the total amount of mercury pollution coming from power plants. Nearly 80 percent of the 5 tons of mercury emitted in Pennsylvania comes from power plants.
Mercury is a persistent, bio-accumulative neurotoxin that can remain active in the environment for more than 10,000 years. It endangers pregnant women, children, subsistence fishermen and recreational anglers who are most at risk for health effects that include brain and nervous system damage in children and heart and immune system damage for adults.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Wetlands, Oceans and Watersheds found that a 30-percent to 100-percent reduction of mercury emissions nationally would translate into a $600 million to $2 billion cost savings. The cost savings were attributed largely to reduced health risks, including cardiovascular disease.
A study prepared by the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis revealed that EPA miscalculated the “nature of the risk involved” when it devised its rule. This study found the public benefit of reducing power plant mercury emissions to 15 tons per year ranges from $119 million annually (if only persistent IQ deficits from fetal exposures to methyl mercury are counted) to as much as $5.2 billion annually (if IQ deficits, cardiovascular effects and premature mortality are counted).
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that about 6 percent of women have mercury levels in their blood above what the National Academy of Sciences, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and EPA say is safe. That means each year an estimated 600,000 babies are born who have been exposed to unsafe levels of mercury in the womb.
Pennsylvania’s plan was crafted after an enhanced stakeholder process that featured a diverse group of public and private individuals who met four times to examine technology, emission control levels, testing, monitoring, record keeping and reporting, compliance schedules, health effects, power generation capacity, infrastructure and economic competitiveness.