By Valerie Volcovici
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Monday will revive an Obama administration-era legal finding that regulating hazardous air toxics and mercury from power plants is necessary, a key step before its strengthens those air regulations.
The move to deem the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS) “appropriate and necessary” would pave the way for the EPA to update the power plant regulation. Power plants are the largest source of those toxic pollutants.
Former President Donald Trump’s EPA had reversed that legal finding in 2020, citing flaws in the Obama EPA’s cost-benefit analysis of the rule. That reversal effectively weakened the MATS rule because it opened the door to lawsuits by companies opposed to it.
The new proposal would leave the current MATS unchanged but would begin the process to gather public health information and public input to strengthen the regulation.
The Obama EPA had concluded in 2012 that controlling mercury, acid gases, and other harmful pollutants could reduce heart attacks and cancer risks and avoid neurodevelopmental delays in children justified the costs of compliance.
The calculations used at the time, however, accounted for how pollution-control equipment at coal plants would reduce emissions of particulate matter and other harmful substances that come out of smokestacks, in addition to mercury.
Trump’s EPA said it believed it was inappropriate to have included the benefits of reducing emissions other than mercury.
“The previous administration ignored science as it attempted to turn back the clock on these protections,” said Democratic Senator Tom Carper. “Fortunately, we can now breathe a little easier knowing that EPA is sticking with what most of us know to be true—clean air is integral to healthy communities and a thriving economy.”
(Reporting by Valerie Volcovici; Editing by Marguerita Choy)
