Additional Analyses of Mercury Emissions Needed Before EPA Finalizes Rules for Coal-Fired Electric Utilities PDF Download
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Author: United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
ISBN: 9781722358266
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 62
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Book Description
Additional Analyses of Mercury Emissions Needed Before EPA Finalizes Rules for Coal-Fired Electric Utilities
Author: United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
ISBN: 9781722358266
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 62
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Book Description
Additional Analyses of Mercury Emissions Needed Before EPA Finalizes Rules for Coal-Fired Electric Utilities
Author: Rick Beusse
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780788174704
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 54
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Book Description
Reviews EPA's development of its proposed rule for controlling mercury emissions (ME) from coal-fired electric utilities. Coal-fired electric utilities represent the largest source of airborne ME in the U.S. Once airborne, mercury can be deposited into water, where it bio-accumulates in fish & animals at the top of the food chain. Human consumption of fish is the primary method of exposure to mercury, which has been shown to cause neurological & fetal developmental problems. On Jan. 30, 2004, EPA proposed rules for regulating ME from coal-fired steam generating electric utility units. EPA proposed two options for controlling ME, one a control technology standard with emission limits & the other a performance based cap-&-trade approach.
Author: United States. Environmental Protection Agency. Office of the Inspector General
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Coal-fired power plants
Languages : en
Pages : 54
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Book Description
Author: James E. McCarthy (Specialist in environmental policy)
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Air
Languages : en
Pages : 20
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Book Description
EPA studies conclude that at least 7.8% of American women have blood mercury levels sufficient to increase the risk of adverse health effects (especially lower IQs) in children they might bear. Thus, there was great interest in the agencys March 15, 2005, announcement that it was finalizing new regulations to control mercury (Hg) emissions from coal-fired electric power plants -- power plants account for 42% of total U.S. mercury emissions, according to EPA. In announcing the regulations, however, EPA stated that most mercury in the atmosphere comes from non-U.S. global sources. Thus, even if regulations could reduce power plant mercury emissions to zero, the agency concluded, there would be little change in the mercury health effects it has identified. Instead of more stringent requirements, EPA promulgated "cap-and-trade" standards that rely heavily on cobenefits from sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide controls installed under a separate agency rule, the Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR). This approach minimizes costs for electric utilities: by 2015, less than 1% of coal-fired power plants will have installed equipment specifically designed to control mercury, according to EPA. By 2020, only 4% of plants will have such equipment. Ten states have filed suit to overturn the agency s action, arguing that EPA is required by the Clean Air Act to impose more stringent Maximum Achievable Control Technology standards at each individual plant. Beginning in 2010, the cap-and-trade standards limit total power plant mercury emissions to 38 tons annually (a 21% reduction vs. 1999 levels). A second phase caps annual emissions at 15 tons, starting in 2018. According to the agency, trading and banking of emission allowances will result in lower than required emissions in the early years, but will delay achievement of the 15-ton cap to at least 2025. Thus, the net effect of the rule appears to be to postpone until the 2020s direct regulation of mercury (except as a co-benefit achieved from regulating other pollutants). EPA has sent contradictory signals regarding the importance of controlling mercury emissions. Its January 2004 analysis of the proposed rule estimated that the indirect benefits of more stringent regulations ($15 billion annually) would outweigh compliance costs by a factor of at least 16 to 1. Direct benefits (although unquantifiable) were said to be "large enough to justify substantial investment in Hg control." The analysis of the final rule, by contrast, concludes that quantifiable direct and indirect benefits of mercury control are just $43 million per year, with annual costs as high as $896 million. EPA s calculations did not include consideration of an academic study that it had funded, a factor contributing to the calculation of smaller benefits. This decision was one of several irregularities in the regulatory process alleged by the agency's Inspector General, GAO, and critics of the rule. In addition to EPAs regulatory effort, five bills that would regulate these emissions have been introduced so far in the 109th Congress, with more expected. S. 131, the Clear Skies Act, has many points in common with the EPA regulatory approach. This report will be updated.
Author: United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Environment and Public Works. Subcommittee on Clean Air, Climate Change, and Nuclear Safety
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Air
Languages : en
Pages : 256
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Book Description
Author:
Publisher: DIANE Publishing
ISBN: 9781422322482
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 250
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Book Description
Author: United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Environment and Public Works
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 976
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Book Description
Author: Phillip J. Cooper
Publisher: Studies in Government and Public Policy
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 312
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Book Description
A concise survey and analysis of presidential attempts over the last thirty years--by Democrats and Republicans alike--to dismantle the regulatory state that first appeared under FDR. Argues that the war against regulation failed and that its excesses remind us of the value and proper role of regulation in American government.
Author: United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Environment and Public Works. Subcommittee on Clean Air and Nuclear Safety
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 312
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Book Description
Author: Winston Harrington
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136526331
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 243
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Book Description
Over the past decades, considerable debate has emerged surrounding the use of cost-benefit analysis (CBA) to analyze and make recommendations for environmental and safety regulations. Critics argue that CBA forces values on unquantifiable factors, that it does not adequately measure benefits across generations, and that it is not adaptable in situations of uncertainty. Proponents, on the other hand, believe that a well-done CBA provides useful, albeit imperfect, information to policymakers precisely because of the standard metrics that are applied across the analysis. Largely absent from the debate have been practical questions about how the use of CBA could be improved. Relying on the assumption that CBA will remain an important component in the regulatory process, this new work from Resources for the Future brings together experts representing both sides of the debate to analyze the use of CBA in three key case studies: the Clean Air Interstate Rule, the Clean Air Mercury Rule, and the Cooling Water Intake Structure Rule (Phase II). Each of the case studies is accompanied by critiques from both an opponent and a proponent of CBA and includes consideration of complementary analyses that could have been employed. The work's editors - two CBA supporters and one critic - conclude the report by offering concrete recommendations for improving the use of CBA, focusing on five areas: technical quality of the analyses, relevance to the agency decision-making process, transparency of the analyses, treatment of new scientific findings, and balance in both the analyses and associated processes, including the treatment of distributional consequences.
