Clean Air Program Reports

The Fine Print: How a Loophole in the ‘Clear Skies’ Bill Lets Power Plants Off the Hook for Their Mercury Emissions	4/6/2005
Power plants are the largest source of U.S. emissions of mercury, a bioaccumulative neurotoxin that poses serious health hazards even in minute amounts. Mercury is particularly harmful to the developing brains of infants and young children; mercury exposure can cause vision and hearing difficulties, developmental delays, lowered IQ, problems with memory, and attention deficits. While current law requires steep and swift reductions in power plant mercury emissions, the Bush administration’s “Clear Skies” bill would give power companies until 2018 before requiring specific action to reduce their mercury emissions. Even worse, a loophole in the fine print of the bill would exempt many of the nation’s power plant units from ever having to reduce their mercury emissions. This report uses Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) data to examine the scope of this loophole and finds that it would allow many of the nation’s power plant units to continue releasing mercury into the air unabated.
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