TRENTON
-- Attorney General Anne Milgram today applauded
a decision by the federal government to drop
its appeal of a prior federal court ruling
that vacated Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) rules concerning power plant mercury
emissions and did away with the EPA’s
controversial cap-and-trade approach to regulating
such emissions.
On
February 8, 2008, the U.S. Court of Appeals
for the District of Columbia agreed with New
Jersey and other states that EPA cannot avoid
its legal duty to promulgate strict limits
on mercury emissions from all power plants
– and do so expeditiously. Among other
things, the ruling meant elimination of the
EPA’s cap-and-trade approach, under
which power plants can purchase emissions
credits from other plants that have cut emissions
below targeted levels rather than meet strict
emission standards by installing pollution
controls. EPA subsequently filed a petition
for certiorari with the U.S. Supreme Court
seeking permission to be heard on appeal.
Today,
the EPA moved to dismiss its own petition
to the Supreme Court. The action came one
week after Attorney General Milgram, joined
by attorneys general or environmental officials
from 14 other states, wrote to the federal
government urging that the appeal petition
be withdrawn, and that the EPA move forward
with development of stringent new standards
for regulation of harmful mercury emissions
from power plants.
“The
decision by the federal government to withdraw
its petition and focus on creating tough new
standards governing mercury emissions from
power plants is a victory for the people of
New Jersey, and for our environment,”
said Attorney General Milgram.
“I applaud new EPA Administrator Lisa
Jackson for taking this decisive action and
ending this protracted legal battle. The legal
fight has only delayed important progress,
and allowed power plants to continue to emit
toxic air pollutants contrary to the federal
Clean Air Act.”
”This
is good news for the people of New Jersey,”
Acting DEP Commissioner Mark Mauriello said.
“The EPA's strong leadership in deciding
to throw out the ruling on dangerous mercury
emissions positions all states to better protect
our residents -- particularly our children,
who are the most vulnerable.”
The
lawsuit that resulted in the February 2008
U.S. Court of Appeals ruling was filed by
New Jersey on behalf of a coalition made up
of 17 states or state agencies and one city.
The suit maintained that EPA illegally removed
coal and oil-fired power plants from the list
of regulated source categories under a section
of the Clean Air Act that requires strict
regulation of hazardous air pollutants, including
mercury.
By removing power plants without meeting the
Clean Air Act’s stringent criteria for
doing so, EPA under its prior leadership sought
to avoid requiring power plants to regulate
their mercury emissions by using the “maximum
achievable control technology.” Instead,
EPA sought to allow power plants to trade
mercury emissions to meet a national “cap,”
an approach that encouraged the development
of mercury “hot spots” and endangered
the health of children.
New
Jersey and the other states maintained that
a strict mercury emissions standard based
on “maximum achievable control technology”
– as required by the Clean Air Act --
could reduce mercury emissions to levels approximately
three times lower than the “cap”
established under EPA’s cap-and-trade
system, and could do so more quickly. The
states contended that EPA’s cap-and-trade
approach promised little in the way of immediate
mercury emission reductions from the current
48 tons per year nationwide, and would delay
even modest reductions by more than a decade.
(As a state, New Jersey recently adopted its
own tough restrictions on mercury emissions
from coal-fired power plants, iron and steel
melters, hospital and medical waste, and municipal
solid waste incinerators.)
“From
the beginning,” said Attorney General
Milgram, “we have maintained that the
EPA, under its former leadership, adopted
standards for regulating mercury -- a dangerous
neurotoxin -- which were weak, ineffectual
and ran counter to the clear intent of the
Clean Air Act. With this decision, under new
leadership, to drop its appeal and focus on
developing strict regulatory standards, the
EPA has taken a major step in the right direction.”
Power plants are the largest source of mercury
in the nation. Power plants also emit many
of the hazardous pollutant listed in Section
112 of the Clean Air Act for EPA regulation.
Mercury pollution has contaminated the nation’s
waters and other natural resources, and nearly
all of the 50 states have issued mercury-related
fish advisories.
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