EPA issues new standards limiting power plant emissions

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates new standards unveiled today to sharply limit emissions of mercury and other toxic pollutants from the nation’s 1,400 coal- and oil-burning power plants will prevent as many as 11,000 premature deaths and 4,700 heart attacks a year. The new standards mark the EPA’s first attempt to limit emissions of mercury and toxic air pollutants such as arsenic, acid gas, nickel, selenium and cyanide. It is not known when—or even if—the standards will be implemented, as industrial leaders are expected to challenge them. The EPA says the standards would also prevent 130,000 cases of childhood asthma symptoms and 6,300 cases of acute bronchitis among children each year. Power plants are the largest remaining source of several toxic air pollutants, the EPA says, and are responsible for half of the mercury and over 75% of the acid gas emissions in the United States. The agency also notes that more than half of all coal-fired power plants already deploy pollution-control technologies that will help them meet the new standards. The Mercury and Air Toxics Standards and the final Cross-State Air Pollution Rule, which was issued earlier this year, are the most significant steps to rein in pollution from power plant smokestacks since the Acid Rain Program of the 1990s. Read more about the new standards from The New York Times here.