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EPA to Roll Back Coal Mercury Emissions Standards

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S'toon

Knows where his towel is
Apr 23, 2015
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The Trump administration is preparing to weaken a major environmental regulation targeting the toxic chemical mercury. The proposed change will heavily weigh costs to the industries the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is meant to regulate while largely ignoring dangers to human health.

A proposal from the EPA expected to head to the White House in coming days would greatly reduce current mercury regulations in a boon to coal-burning power plants.

Two senior officials told the Washington Post that the new proposed rule would target the Obama administration’s 2011 Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS), which limits mercury emissions from power plants.

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urrent rules require the EPA to weigh the health benefits associated with reducing pollutants like mercury, something that has factored heavily into the agency’s limitations on coal plants.

Exposure to mercury can cause brain damage, along with damage to the nervous system and to both fetal and child development. It took decades and millions of dollars for the EPA to develop the 2011 standards, despite receiving congressional approval to regulate toxic metals associated with coal-burning in the 1990s.

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Full article at:
EPA to roll back mercury rule in a boon to coal industry and blow to human health