By Brett Rosenberg
July 3, 2006

Following a delay for additional administrative and technical review, a coalition of 16 states has renewed its efforts to challenge the EPA over its new Clean Air Mercury Rule. The environment agency originally issued the CAMR, as the rule is known, March 15, 2005 but it was immediately challenged by the same state coalition. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. circuit placed the suit on hold in October of 2005 so the EPA could review and reconsider particulars of the CAMR and a similar regulation regarding the decision to delist coal-fired electric steam generating units from the list of source categories covered in the federal Clean Air Act.

On May 31 of this year, the EPA published its proposed reconsiderations to the CAMR and the delisting rule. The agency, in its review, determined that the mercury rule needed only minor technical adjustments and it was correct in its original delisting assessment.

The state coalition charges that the EPA should have used a more stringent rule that would require coal-fired utilities to install pollution control equipment to remove mercury rather than rely on a market-based cap-and-trade system. Further, the group contends that a market based system will lead to mercury “hot spots” where elevated levels of the poisonous substance will tend to accumulate due to market inefficiencies.

According to EPA officials, the CAMR would reduce nationwide mercury emissions from about 48 tons per year today to 15 tons by the mid 2020’s. The EPA also contends that a market-based system will lead to rapid early emissions reductions as current emitters strive for market position.

The state coalition consists of California, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont and Wisconsin, and environmental groups.

The federal government officially began a program this June whereby it will require refiners and fuel importers to cut the sulfur content of highway diesel fuel by 97 percent, from 500 parts per million to 15. According to the EPA, once the rule is fully implemented, the nation will realize the prevention of almost 8,300 deaths annually and tens of thousands fewer cases of respiratory ailments such as bronchitis and asthma. In addition to the health benefits, the new diesel rules will reduce soot, or particulate matter emissions by 110,000 tons per year, the equivalent of about 13 million of today’s trucks and buses.

Ultra low sulfur diesel, or ULSD, will enable advanced pollution control technology for cars, trucks and buses. Although ULSD became commercially available beginning June 1, 2006, engine manufacturers have the flexibility to meet the new standards between 2007 and 2010.