President Biden’s Environmental Protection Agency is proposing tighter rules to limit emissions of harmful mercury and other pollutants from coal-fired electric power plants, officials announced Wednesday.
If passed, the updates would be the first regulatory tightening of its kind imposed in more than a decade and would roll back looser emissions and pollutant standards advanced late in former President Donald Trump’s administration. The EPA proposal, after a comment period, would go into effect next year.
The EPA’s latest moves follow a legal finding by the agency earlier this year that determined regulating toxic emissions under the Clean Air Act is “appropriate and necessary” to the public’s health.
For instance, studies have found the emissions of mercury and other toxic pollutants can harm brain development of young children. The pollution can contribute to heart attacks, as well as nervous system and kidney ailments, in adults, especially those with underlying conditions. The World Health Organization says fetuses are especially vulnerable to birth defects via mercury exposure through their mothers.
EPA’s data from 2021 showed increases in power plant emissions compared to the previous year, including a 20% increase in sulfur dioxide and a 13% increase in mercury emissions.
The proposed rule will support and strengthen EPA’s Mercury and Air Toxics Standards, which have delivered a 90% reduction in mercury emissions from power plants since they were adopted in 2012 under then-President Barack Obama, EPA Administrator Michael Regan said in a statement.
“By leveraging proven, emissions-reduction measures available at reasonable costs and encouraging new, advanced control technologies, we can reduce hazardous pollution from coal-fired power plants — protecting our planet and improving public health for all,” Regan said.
In 2022, about 4.2 trillion kilowatthours (kWh) of electricity were generated at utility-scale facilities in the U.S. Some 60% of this electricity generation was from fossil fuels, including coal, natural gas
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petroleum
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and other gases combined. About 18% was from less-emitting nuclear energy, and about 22% was from renewable and cleaner energy sources, which might include wind or solar
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Last year, among fossil fuels, coal made up nearly 20% of the energy used to generate electricity, second to natural gas, at 60%.
The coal industry, and its supporters, including Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, remain critical of increased regulation due to costs for businesses and U.S. households. They say the industry is pushing its own improvement methods, such as investing in carbon capture and storage technology which, although it is not yet at commercial scale, would essentially allow utilities to source power by fossil fuels because emissions are captured at the point of combustion and not spewed into the air and water.
Read: Republican House OKs pro-drilling energy bill that’s unlikely to pass Senate. It’s still a rebuke of Biden’s climate agenda and a 2024 weapon.
To be sure, although natural gas and renewables continue to replace coal’s use, coal-fired power plants are the largest single man-made source of mercury pollutants.
These pollutants enter the food chain through fish and other sources that people consume, and can impact humans via exposure when swimming or playing in heavily affected waterways.
It’s true that mercury is a naturally occurring element found in air, water and soil. But humans are are mainly exposed to methylmercury, an organic compound, when they eat fish and shellfish that contain the compound, the WHO says. Methylmercury is very different to ethylmercury. The latter is used as a preservative in some vaccines and does not pose a health risk.
The conservative-majority Supreme Court last year ruled to limit the EPA’s ability to regulate carbon emissions from power plants. The decision left intact the EPA’s authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions but blocked any attempt by the agency to write regulations so broad they might force the closure of coal-fired plants, which are already being taken offline due to rising costs.
The EPA will push the new rules under a determination such action falls under its health mandate.
Related: Earth-warming carbon-dioxide emissions hit a record high in 2022 as air travel roared back to life
The American Lung Association welcomed the developments but said its comments would urge even tougher regulations because of the vulnerability of Americans who live very near the emitting power plants.
“Work to clean up coal- and oil-fired power plant emissions under the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards has been a big success and received bipartisan support,” said Harold Wimmer, president and CEO of the American Lung Association.
“These lifesaving standards have cut toxic air pollution from power plants dramatically and Americans —particularly babies — are much healthier as a result,” he said. “However, power plants do still emit dangerous air toxics with serious health implications for people who live nearby, and EPA’s data shows that these emissions are on the rise.”
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