Stop the Rollback of Mercury and Air Toxics Standards
The Comment Period Ends Friday, February 22nd
From the Environmental PACG Forum
Please visit the Sierra Club Advocate Group Campaign Website to send a quick email now!
On December 27, 2018 the EPA proposed a rollback to the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS) that require coal-burning power plants to reduce emissions of mercury and other hazardous air pollutants (HAP) like arsenic.
The new proposal’s bottom line: Regulating HAP from power plants under the Clean Air Act is no longer “appropriate and necessary.” It’s just too costly.
According to EPA Acting Administrator, Andrew Wheeler, a former coal industry lobbyist, it’s just not right to count the cumulative health benefits of regulating mercury and HAP emissions from power plants. The annual cost to comply with MATS is $7.4 to $9.6 billion.
EPA estimated annual health benefits from MATS range from $37 billion to $90 billion and include: preventing up to 11,000 premature deaths and more than 100,000 asthma and heart attacks; a decrease in 5,700 emergency room visits; and, over 3 million days of restricted activity each year would be prevented. The quantifiable benefit of rollbacking MATS will benefit industry $4 to $6 million annually.
Read more from the current EPA here.
If you are concerned about the health impact of mercury and toxic pollutants on you and your family, it is critical that you let EPA know that they must not weaken the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards.
Take Action:
EPA will accept written comments for 60 days (from 12/27/2018).
Unfortunately, this docket, (EPA-HQ-OAR-2018-0794) is not posted on the regulations.gov website to accept comments as it should be. The government shutdown may have interrupted this process.
You can join the Sierra Club campaign to “Protect Our Air From Toxic Mercury!” here. They have a message ready to be submitted to Acting EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler. All you need to do is add your name to it. Please do so as soon as possible.
Susan Leuthauser
[email protected]
On December 27, 2018 the EPA proposed a rollback to the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS) that require coal-burning power plants to reduce emissions of mercury and other hazardous air pollutants (HAP) like arsenic.
The new proposal’s bottom line: Regulating HAP from power plants under the Clean Air Act is no longer “appropriate and necessary.” It’s just too costly.
According to EPA Acting Administrator, Andrew Wheeler, a former coal industry lobbyist, it’s just not right to count the cumulative health benefits of regulating mercury and HAP emissions from power plants. The annual cost to comply with MATS is $7.4 to $9.6 billion.
EPA estimated annual health benefits from MATS range from $37 billion to $90 billion and include: preventing up to 11,000 premature deaths and more than 100,000 asthma and heart attacks; a decrease in 5,700 emergency room visits; and, over 3 million days of restricted activity each year would be prevented. The quantifiable benefit of rollbacking MATS will benefit industry $4 to $6 million annually.
Read more from the current EPA here.
If you are concerned about the health impact of mercury and toxic pollutants on you and your family, it is critical that you let EPA know that they must not weaken the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards.
Take Action:
EPA will accept written comments for 60 days (from 12/27/2018).
Unfortunately, this docket, (EPA-HQ-OAR-2018-0794) is not posted on the regulations.gov website to accept comments as it should be. The government shutdown may have interrupted this process.
You can join the Sierra Club campaign to “Protect Our Air From Toxic Mercury!” here. They have a message ready to be submitted to Acting EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler. All you need to do is add your name to it. Please do so as soon as possible.
Susan Leuthauser
[email protected]
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