Nathan Willcox, PennEnvironment Energy & Clean Air Advocate
Summary: Given the public health and environmental threats posed by mercury pollution from Pennsylvania’s coal-fired power plants, the Bush administration’s weakening of the Clean Air Act’s federal mercury pollution reduction requirements, and the availability of mercury pollution control technologies, PennEnvironment supports a state-level mercury rule requiring 90 percent mercury reductions from the state’s coal-fired power plants. PennEnvironment is supportive of the DEP’s state-level proposal to cut mercury pollution from Pennsylvania’s coal-fired power plants, and thus we also oppose any legislative efforts to block implementation of the DEP’s proposal, including House Bill 2610 and Senate Bill 1201.
My testimony will focus on the following aspects of the mercury pollution issue: the public health impacts of mercury, environmental impacts of mercury pollution, the Bush administration’s so-called “Clean Air Mercury Rule”, the issue of mercury “hot spots”, and the mercury control technologies currently available to reduce mercury pollution from coal-fired power plants.
Download our PDF for the full testimony.
Testimony_4-25_Senate_Hearing.pdf