US EPA rescinds legal basis for Obama-era mercury rule targeting power plants

摘要

Despite the objections of public health advocates and even the US electric industry, the US Environmental Protection Agency April 16 released a final rule rescinding the legal basis for the Obama-era Mercury and Air Toxics Standards. Importantly, the rule also signals the EPA’s intent to give less weight to the side or co-benefits of a proposed action when conducting future rulemakings. Also known as the MATS rule, the 2012 regulation drove a wave of coal plant retirements by requiring those units to either retrofit with mercury-curbing pollution control technologies or shut down. Since the MATS rule was first proposed in 2011, power sector mercury emissions have plummeted nearly 82%, according to EPA data.