From Headwaters: EPA: Air Pollution Laws Good for Jobs, Public

By Teresa Bertossi, with additional reporting by Gabriel Caplett
Posted on Headwaters News Feb. 12, 2012

At a recent meeting in Marquette, Susan Hedman, Great Lakes regional director for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) cited coal-fired power plants as the largest source of mercury contamination in the United States, a burden often suffered by citizens.

Speaking at Operation Action U.P.’s annual meeting, Hedman said, "I would suggest that [power plants] consider the cost that they have been imposing…on you, by failing to do their part. People who live and vacation in the Upper Peninsula can’t eat their fish because states haven’t been doing their part to solve the problem."

Hedman discussed the new Cross State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR), which will likely be implemented under the Clean Air Act. The rule -- finalized in December, but now stalled in court -- would reduce power plant emissions crossing state lines that contribute to ozone and fine particle pollution in other states. The rule would replace the EPA’s Clean Air Interstate Rule, adopted in 2005.

Recently adopted Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS) would further regulate mercury and other toxic emissions from power plants. In December a coalition representing 125,000 businesses in the United States wrote a letter urging President Obama to implement MATS....Read more.

Editor's Note: This is the second article from Headwaters News on EPA Region 5 Administrator Susan Hedman's recent visit to Marquette (Jan. 26-27, 2012). Click here to read the rest of this article.

See also Teresa Bertossi's first article, posted Feb. 12, 2012, "Headwaters News: EPA Talks Jobs and Regulation."