WASHINGTON — After years of delays and false starts under both Democratic and Republican administrations, the Environmental Protection Agency is close to finishing two measures to reduce pollution from coal-fired power plants.
Experts say the pollution cuts will save thousands of lives a year by sparing people asthma attacks, heart attacks and other health problems. Coal-dependent power companies that face big bills for new equipment in response to the EPA rules are calling for more time, arguing that rates will rise, harming households and industries.
One of the rules, expected in final form as early as today, would force states in the eastern half of the country to reduce pollutants that travel hundreds of miles to create dangerously bad air days in other states. The other rule, due in November and the subject of much wrangling, will be the first national requirement to reduce mercury, lead, arsenic and other toxic pollutants from coal-fired power plants.
“Pollutants such as mercury, arsenic and particulate matter shorten or reduce the quality of Americans’ lives and put at risk the health and development of future generations,” EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson said recently on Capitol Hill.
Jackson said the health benefits would far outweigh the power industry’s costs.
While other industries have been required to make the same cleanups under federal law over the past 21 years, the power sector has gotten special consideration because of its importance to the economy. Coal-fired power plants today are the largest source of mercury, arsenic and other hazardous substances in air pollution.
The EPA’s proposed rule aimed at reducing pollution between states is a court-ordered revision of a 2005 Bush administration rule. The EPA proposed a new version in August. Compliance would be required in 2012.
