EPA Boosts Toxic Air Pollution Safeguards at Coal Plants
WASHINGTON – The Biden administration today announced important new technology updates to the Environmental Protection Agency's Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS) for power plants that burn coal and oil, strengthening the limit on toxic particulate matter for all plants and mercury standards for some coal plants, while requiring particulate matter continuous emissions monitors for all plants.
The following is a statement from John Walke, director of the clean air program at NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council):
“This is a key move by EPA and the Biden administration to improve air quality and protect public health.
“These clean air safeguards work — and now Americans will enjoy even greater protections against the most dangerous air pollution released by fossil fuel-burning power plants. The improvements strengthen the limits on toxic soot and mercury pollution, and guarantee greater transparency and accountability with continuous emissions monitoring.”
BACKGROUND:
The power sector is one of the nation’s biggest polluters. For half a century, it has been a core responsibility of the Environmental Protection Agency under the Clean Air Act and other laws to regulate air pollution, including mercury, lead and more than 7 dozen other hazardous air pollutants from power plants that burn coal and oil.
Power plants are the country’s largest industrial source of mercury, a neurotoxin that can harm children’s developing nervous systems and reduce their ability to think and learn. Other toxic air pollutants from power plants released into the air and transported through water can cause cancer and other health problems — including asthma and heart attacks, strokes, and premature deaths — harming communities near and far.
The Biden administration performed this technological review required by the Clean Air Act to determine whether technology improvements support stronger limits on toxic emissions and more accurate monitoring than MATS required upon its release in 2011. The previous administration had performed an inadequate review and refused to require any improvements. This led the Biden administration to undertake a more thorough review and strengthen MATS.
EPA’s technology updates to MATS will:
- strengthen mercury limits for power plants that burn lignite coal, primarily in Texas and North Dakota, bringing these limits in line with other types of coal;
- strengthen the MATS limit on particulate matter, restricting toxic metals such as nickel and arsenic, from 0.03 to 0.01 pounds per million Btu; and,
- require continuous emissions monitors (CEMS) for toxic particulate matter at all power plants that burn coal and oil, instead of allowing optional “stack” tests that were conducted annually or less often.
Since taking effect in 2015, MATS already has reduced toxic air pollution from the power sector by historic amounts. EPA has noted that, “[c]ombined with other changes affecting the power sector, MATS has driven sharp reductions in harmful air toxic pollutants from coal- and oil-fired power plants.” MATS has improved health outcomes for Americans, saving as many as 11,000 lives every year, and avoiding tens of thousands of heart attacks and hundreds of thousands of asthma attacks, hospital and ER visits and missed work or sick days each year.
NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council) is an international nonprofit environmental organization with more than 3 million members and online activists. Established in 1970, NRDC uses science, policy, law, and people power to confront the climate crisis, protect public health, and safeguard nature. NRDC has offices in New York City, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Bozeman, MT, Beijing and Delhi (an office of NRDC India Pvt. Ltd). Visit us at www.nrdc.org and follow us on Twitter @NRDC.