CHICAGO—In a
major victory for children's health and the environment, the Illinois Pollution
Control Board voted unanimously today to reduce coal-fired power plants' toxic mercury
pollution by up to 90 percent. Barring a legislative oversight committee's
veto, Illinois will join the short
list of states to protect public health by requiring coal-fired power plants to
reduce mercury pollution to the maximum extent practical with existing
technology.
“The Illinois
mercury rule will do what federal regulators wouldn’t: put children’s health
first. With this rule we not only get among the most protective mercury rules
in the country, but also up front reductions in soot and smog-forming
emissions,” said Max Muller, Environmental Advocate at Environment Illinois.
“This rule makes it clear that risking the health of our children is not an acceptable
cost of doing business in Illinois.”
Illinois's twenty-one
coal-fired power plants emit 71 percent of in-state mercury pollution, a
potent neurotoxin that can harm human cognition and fetal development. Available technologies—or
optimizing pollution control equipment already in place—can capture 90 percent
of mercury pollution before it leaves the smokestack. Today's rule will require
nearly every coal-fired power plant in Illinois
to install and operates these technologies by 2009.
Eating tainted fish is the dominant route of human exposure to
mercury. When power plant mercury lands in waterways, bacteria convert it to
methylmercury, a potent neurotoxin which accumulates in fish. In April,
Environment Illinois issued a report finding that the average Illinois
sport fish tested in 36 Illinois
counties, 66 individual lakes and streams, and 16 fish species exceeded the
U.S. EPA safe limit for a woman of average weight who eats fish twice per week.
The Illinois Department of Health warns women and children to limit their
consumption of fish from all Illinois
waters.
Methylmercury can permanently damage the human heart, brain, and
immune system. When a pregnant mother eats contaminated fish, methylmercury
crosses the placenta and can cause irreparable damage to the developing fetus's
central nervous system, resulting in developmental delays, motor, memory, and
attention problems, and decreased IQ. Nationally, U.S. EPA researchers estimate
that up to one in six potential mothers—including over 100,000 women in Illinois—has high enough
blood-mercury levels to put a fetus at risk.
“The American Heart Association tells us to eat fish twice a week
for the omega-3 fatty acids, but Illinois families can’t follow that advice
with local sport fish, because if they do, they’ll likely exceed the U.S. EPA
safe dose of mercury,” said advocate Max Muller. “But studies indicate that if
we cut mercury pollution locally, we can expect rapid decreases in fish mercury
levels. That’s why the mercury rule is so important."
For years, power plant owners have resisted investing in mercury
control technology. This August, with mounting public support for the mercury rule,
Ameren and Dynegy power companies agreed to support the rule with the addition
of a new, multi-pollutant provision. Under that alternative provision,
utilities must install mercury controls on 96 percent of their generating
capacity by 2009. In exchange for extra time at the remaining 4 percent, they
also commit to significant investments to cut lung-harming soot and smog
pollution.
"One by one the power plant owners realized that it's not
that difficult to clean up mercury pollution," said Rebecca Stanfield,
director of Environment Illinois. "They're finding it's affordable to
protect public health and stay in business."
Illinois EPA estimates the cost of facility upgrades to comply
with the rule's mercury provisions at less than one percent of one year's
utility industry revenues.
The only major coal-power generator left opposing the mercury rule
is Midwest Generation, which owns seven plants in Illinois,
including five in the Chicago metro area, and
which is Illinois's
single worst mercury polluter.
Rulemaking on the Illinois Mercury Rule, proposed by Governor
Blagojevich in January, began in March when Illinois EPA submitted a draft rule
to IPCB for consideration. Based on public comment and experts' sworn
testimony, the IPCB voted today to adopt Illinois EPA's proposal. The Legislature's
Joint Committee on Administrative Rules (JCAR), a bipartisan oversight
committee will also review the rule—likely at its next meeting on November 14th—but
the rule will become law unless two-thirds of the committee's twelve members
vote to prohibit it.
"Illinois EPA should be proud of the strong technical case it
made to show that these mercury reductions are feasible, affordable and will
benefit public health," said Keith Harley, Director of the Chicago
Environmental Law Clinic. "The Pollution Control Board's evaluation is
rigorous; its unanimous vote means the rule clearly meets muster."
"We know that Midwest Generation is lobbying against mercury
reductions, but we are confident that politics won't trump public health when the
JCAR legislators cast their votes. Adopting this rule is the right thing to do,"
said Muller.
The Illinois Mercury Rule is Illinois's response to a federal mercury
rule which is currently being implemented and is widely regarded as
insufficient due to its long phase-in and high mercury emissions caps. The
Congressional Research Service estimates that the federal rule won’t meet its
modest reduction targets until 2030 and even then, mercury pollution would be
three times greater than under the Illinois
plan which would achieve nearly a 90 percent reduction by 2009.
Environment Illinois is a non-profit, non-partisan environmental
advocacy group representing 20,000 members across Illinois.
In the Summer of 2004, we launched our campaign urging Illinois policy makers to implement a
mercury reduction policy more stringent than the federal mercury rule.
Throughout our campaign we briefed media and policy makers on the health
threats of mercury pollution and the availability of solutions. We also researched and wrote two reports documenting the extent and severity
of mercury pollution in Illinois.
In May 2006, our staff delivered 5,900 postcards and
letters from our members and supporters to the Illinois Pollution Control Board, which
received more public comment on this rule than for any other in memory. For
more information visit www.EnvironmentIllinois.org.
