Supreme Court Will Hear Appeal of Mercury and Air Toxics Standards

NEWS RELEASE 

Contact:
Vickie Patton, 720-837-6239, [email protected]
Sharyn Stein, 202-572-3396, [email protected]

(Washington, D.C. – November 25, 2014) The U.S. Supreme Court announced today that it will review an April decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit upholding the historic protections against mercury and other toxic air pollution from power plants, granting requests for review that were submitted by the National Mining Association, the Utility Air Regulatory Group, and various states.    

Environmental Defense Fund is a party to this case and presented oral argument in defense of these protections in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.

The landmark U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) standards were upheld by that court in April.

“Mercury and other air toxins from coal-fired power plants are a threat to public health, and all Americans must be protected from them,” said Vickie Patton, General Counsel for Environmental Defense Fund. “EPA’s life-saving limits on mercury, arsenic and acid gases from smokestacks are thoroughly anchored in law and science, and we look forward to presenting a compelling case for these vital clean air safeguards to the Supreme Court.”

The Mercury and Air Toxics Standards set the first-ever national limits on some of the most dangerous types of air pollution emitted by power plants, including mercury, arsenic and acid gases. Power plants are responsible for more than half of the mercury, arsenic and acid gases emitted in America.

Those substances are all highly toxic to humans; mercury, in particular, causes brain damage in children.

When implemented, EPA’s Mercury and Air Toxics Standards will prevent up to 11,000 premature deaths, 4,700 heart attacks and 130,000 asthma attacks every year. Every dollar spent on complying with the rule will result in as much as nine dollars in health benefits for Americans.

Most power plants in the U.S. are already on track to comply with these life-saving standards. The U.S. Energy Information Administration reported that by the end of 2012 (which is more than two years ahead of the April 2015 compliance deadline),“64.3% of the U.S. coal generating capacity in the electric power sector already had the appropriate environmental control equipment to comply with the MATS [Mercury and Air Toxics Standards].”

In spite of that, industry and other groups challenged the standards. EPA defended them, along with a coalition of 16 states and the District of Columbia, power companies, medical and public health advocates, and environmental organizations – including EDF.

On April 15, 2014, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled in favor of the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards.

You can find more about the history of the case and all the legal briefs on EDF’s website.