On Friday,the Environmental Protection Agency said that limiting mercury and other toxic emissions from coal- and oil-fired plants is not cost-effective and should not be considered “appropriate and essential”.
The restrictions were originally put into site with amendments to the Clean Air Act in 1990, which were not finalized until 2012. Largely because utilities have already spent billions to comply with the 2012 restrictions, or the EPA is keeping the Obama-era law in site for the moment. In a statement,the EPA said that its intent is “providing regulatory certainty by transparently and accurately taking account of both costs and benefits.”The National Mining organization celebrated the move, calling the mercury protections “punitive” and “massively unbalanced.” Director Hal Quinn called the regulations “perhaps the largest regulatory accounting fraud perpetrated on American consumers.”Conversely, and environmental groups see the move as a step toward a total repeal of limits that would make regulation more difficult to impose in the future,according to NPR.
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Source: inquisitr.com