Pa: State protests EPA's mercury emissions rule, 10 other states join action

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State protests EPA's mercury emissions rule

Tuesday, June 29, 2004

By Snowbeck, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/04181/339019.stm

Pennsylvania and 10 other states filed comments yesterday opposing the

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's proposed mercury emissions rule,

a measure that critics say is not as tough as one proposed during the

Clinton administration.

EPA estimates that the proposed rule will reduce mercury emissions by 69

percent by 2018, said Kurt M. Knaus, spokesman for the Pennsylvania

Department of Environmental Protection. But the earlier rule would have

cut emissions by 90 percent by 2010, he said.

In a news release, DEP Secretary Kathleen A. McGinty said the current

proposal " endangers pregnant women, children and others who are most at

risk for health defects that can include brain and nervous system damage. "

Mercury is released into the air when coal is burned. It falls to the

ground and is washed or falls into streams, where it accumulates in the

tissues of plants and animals. Human exposure comes primarily from

eating fish.

The filing by Pennsylvania and the other states came as the time period

for public comments on the proposed rule draws to a close tomorrow,

Knaus said.

EPA will take the comments into consideration before issuing a final rule.

Segal, director of the Electric Reliability Coordinating Council,

said his group would be filing comments today in support of the

regulation. The earlier regulation could have prompted companies to

switch to natural gas rather than continue to use coal, which would have

boosted costs to consumers, Segal said.

McGinty, who oversaw development of the Clinton administration's

pollutant control proposal, said the current EPA proposal penalizes

Pennsylvania coal. That's because the emissions standards are more

stringent for the cleaner bituminous coal in Pennsylvania than they are

for sub-bituminous coal mined in the West.

A study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that one

in 12 women of childbearing age in the United States has mercury in her

blood above levels that the EPA considers safe.

In March, the Food and Drug Administration and the EPA issued an

advisory to pregnant women about the risks of mercury in fish and

shellfish, offering tips on how to reduce the risks.

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