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PRESS RELEASE

 

For Immediate Release:                               Contact:

Monday, March 10, 2008                                   Paul Ertelt, (518) 449-3870,

                                                                      paulertelt@adk.org

ADK Calls for Moratorium on Power Plant Permits

The Adirondack Mountain Club (ADK) is calling on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to cease issuing permits for new or modified coal-fired power plants until a federal appeals court order on mercury emissions becomes final.

Last month, the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia unanimously struck down EPA’s Clean Air Mercury Rule (CAMR). That cap-and-trade program allowed polluters to buy pollution credits and emit mercury without pollution controls, which in turn resulted in regional mercury “hot spots.”  


Two recent studies have linked coal-fired power plants to mercury hot spots in the Adirondacks and Catskills. A long-term study by the Wildlife Conservation Society, released last week, confirmed that human-generated mercury emissions are degrading the health and reproductive success of loons in the Northeast. (Click here for more information.)

The appeals court ruled that the EPA mercury plan conflicted with the clear language of the federal Clean Air Act, which requires power plants to install the best technology available to reduce mercury emissions. But despite the ruling, ADK and other environmental groups are concerned that EPA may try to rush through pending applications for new coal-fired plants before the court’s final order comes down. 


“Based on their track record, we can’t trust EPA to obey the law and do the right thing,” said ADK Executive Director Neil F. Woodworth. “In recent years, EPA has bent over backwards to further the interests of polluters while ignoring its mandate to protect the environment and public health. This has to stop.”

 

On Feb. 25, ADK, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and other environmental and health organizations filed a motion asking the appeals court to expedite its final ruling in the case to help ensure that EPA issues no more illegal power-plant permits.

Since EPA finalized CAMR in March 2005, nearly 30 new coal-powered plants have received EPA permits and 34 others are in various stages of the approval process, according to an analysis by the Sierra Club’s Environmental Law Program. Some of these plants are upwind of New York state. (Click here for more information about the status of coal-fired power plants.)

Since the Feb. 8 appeals court decision, Environmental Defense obtained EPA documents and e-mails that show the agency has been pressuring states to drop plans for tougher mercury emission standards.

“This is a national scandal,” Woodworth said. “Not only has EPA refused to perform its duty as the nation’s environmental watchdog, it is putting pressure on states to follow its dismal example.”

 

In January 2007, ADK filed a brief with the Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia asserting that EPA’s mercury rule was an illegal attempt to weaken the strict mercury emission controls set forth in the Clean Air Act. ADK was represented in the case by Woodworth, who is also the group’s chief counsel, and Leah W. Casey of Carter, Conboy, Case, Blackmore, Maloney & Laird.

The Adirondacks and Catskills are downwind of numerous coal-burning power plants, whose mercury emissions contribute significantly to mercury pollution in these regions. A 2007 independent study by Charles Driscoll and the Hubbard Brook Research Foundation estimated that mercury emissions from U.S. coal-fired power plants are responsible for 40 percent to 65 percent of mercury deposition in the Northeast. 

Current levels of mercury deposition in the Northeast are four to six times higher than the levels recorded in 1900. Ninety-six percent of the lakes in the Adirondack region and 40 percent of the lakes in New Hampshire and Vermont exceed the recommended EPA action level for methyl mercury in fish. 

 

Because of high mercury levels in fish from six reservoirs in the Catskills, state health officials have warned that infants, children under 15 and women of childbearing age should not eat any fish from these reservoirs.  

The Adirondack Mountain Club, founded in 1922, is a nonprofit membership organization dedicated to protecting the New York State Forest Preserve and other wild lands and waters through conservation and advocacy, environmental education and responsible recreation.