The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has issued new rules to limit the amount of mercury and toxic air pollution that power plants emit, and CHA and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops have said they support the new standards and believe they will help to protect people's health.
The EPA issued the new Mercury and Air Toxics Standards on Dec. 16 in an effort to reduce power plant emissions of heavy metals and acid gases. The agency said that power plants are the dominant source of such pollutants, emitting about 50 percent of mercury, about 75 percent of acid gases and up to 60 percent of toxic metals in the U.S.
While the Clean Air Act Amendments passed in 1990 established national protocols for curbing pollution, including toxic air emissions, the legislation left some uncertainty about how power plant emissions were to be regulated. The EPA said the new standards help to end such uncertainty by spelling out specific national limits on how much mercury and air toxins power plants can emit.
Power plants that do not comply with the standards will need to upgrade their equipment and/or operating practices. The EPA said that by using compliant scrubbers, injection systems, filters and other power plant technology, the plants can reduce their emissions. The EPA estimated that about 1,100 coal-fired power plant units and about 300 oil-fired units will be impacted by the new standards. The agency said that it will cost about $9.6 billion annually for the power industry to comply with the new standards. Plants have up to four years to meet the requirements.
The EPA said the rules should lead to health improvements for people in the U.S. The agency said studies have shown that mercury can damage the nervous systems of unborn babies and young children. The contamination may be traced to pregnant women, women of childbearing age, breast feeding women or young children having eaten mercury-tainted fish.
The EPA also said air pollutants have been linked with premature death, heart attacks, bronchitis and asthma. The agency said it expects to see reduced incidences of all of these conditions once power plants are compliant with the new standards.
In May, during the EPA's comment period on the new rules, CHA's president and chief executive officer wrote to EPA Administrator Lisa Perez Jackson that the association supported the new standards and the EPA's efforts to "protect our nation's communities from the threats of toxic air pollution from power plants.
"These pollutants are the source of a number of extreme health problems," wrote Sr. Carol Keehan, DC. She said CHA's support is rooted "in the Catholic Church's teachings on the dignity of the human person and the sanctity of human life — especially in regards to the poor and vulnerable who disproportionately bear the brunt of environmental degradation."
Around the same time, the bishops wrote to the EPA administrator supporting the standards. Bishop Stephen E. Blaire, of Stockton, Calif., wrote that "children, inside and outside the womb, are uniquely vulnerable to environmental hazards and exposure to toxic pollutants in the environment. … (and so) we believe we ought to take prudent and responsible action to protect our children." Bishop Blaire is chairman of the USCCB's Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development.