Biden EPA clamps down on mercury from coal power plants

Biden administration officials are ramping up regulations on coal, seeking stronger limits on mercury and other toxic air pollutants from power plants as part of a wider attempt to crackdown on pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.

On Wednesday, the Environmental Protection Agency proposed the most stringent update on limits to mercury from smokestacks since the Obama administration first issued Mercury and Air Toxics Standards in 2012. The agency said it expects it will reduce by more than two-thirds the mercury emissions from plants that burn lignite — also known as brown coal — and emissions that contain nickel, arsenic and other metals from other plants.

The move is part of the administration’s strategy to clean up pollution in poor and minority communities, and to move the electric power industry to cleaner fuels. President Biden has pledged to make the U.S. electricity sector carbon neutral by 2035, and these standards have been one of the most powerful drivers over the past decade in lowering emissions by pushing power plants to replace coal with natural gas, wind and solar.

The agency said its proposal will also cut emissions of soot, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and the leading contributor to climate change, carbon dioxide, nationwide.

“America is leading the way in innovation, and our work to protect public health is no different,” 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.”

Wednesday’s move is a follow-up to action the agency took a year ago to undo a Trump-era determination that said these limits were unnecessary. The EPA in recent weeks has also announced tougher limits on smog-forming pollutants and proposed new standards for reducing soot. In the coming weeks it is expected to propose updated greenhouse gas rules for all power plants, and most cars and trucks.

Under Regan, its strategy has been to use an array of pollution rules to address power plants’ role in climate change as it works under limits the Supreme Court put last year on the agency’s authority to target greenhouse gases. U.S. power plants rank as the nation’s second-biggest contributor to global warming.

Opposition from the power industry has been limited, with many companies now using the rules to justify investing in cleaner power and passing those costs on to consumers. But some fossil fuel advocates, especially in big coal-producing states, say the moves threaten their economies.

“The Biden administration continues to wage war on coal and affordable, reliable energy by issuing unnecessary regulations intended to drive down electricity production from our nation’s baseload power resources,” Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) said in a statement about the mercury proposal. “With one job-killing regulation after another, the EPA continues to threaten the livelihoods of those in West Virginia and other energy-producing communities across the country.”

Coal, by far the sector’s largest source of carbon dioxide, has drawn special attention from the administration. Its recent rule changes also include stronger limits on toxic water pollution from coal power plants, which alone could lead some plants to shut down.

Heavy metals also waft into the air from coal-fired plants and settle in lakes and streams, and enter the food chain after being absorbed by fish. Anglers who subsist on fish are at particular risk. Exposure to it can harm brain development in babies and cause heart disease in adults.

Part of the new update is designed to address the type of coal that produces the biggest byproduct when its burned, lignite.

Lignite, used now in just a handful of places, primarily North Dakota and Texas, is the lowest grade coal, producing the least amount of energy when it is burned. Current rules allow these plants to release higher levels of mercury, and the new proposal would end that, requiring lignite-burning plants to keep emissions as low as other coal-fired power plants, said Principal Deputy Assistant Administrator Joe Goffman and other EPA officials.

Lignite-burning plants now account for about 30 percent of the power sector’s mercury emissions, Goffman said.

The EPA said it is updating the rules now because the Clean Air Act requires it when technological advancements make it easier for power plants to comply. The industry’s Washington lobby has estimated utilities have spent about $18 billion to install pollution control technologies to meet these standards.

“EPA’s proposed rule would build on the progress made to better protect communities,” Sen. Thomas R. Carper (D-Del.), a longtime advocate for strong mercury rules, said in a statement. “This science-based rule will ensure that power plants use modern pollution control technology, which will help save lives and support a healthy economy.”

The new proposal would also require continuous monitoring systems to produce real-time emissions measurements. It would also require lower emissions during start-up, the agency said. The proposal also requests comment on whether the EPA should institute even more stringent standards than what it is including in the proposal.