NY seeks to cut mercury emissions from coal plants
Maybe SLUP should hook up with Pataki
Fri May 26, 2006 11:17 AM ET
NEW YORK, May 26 (Reuters) - New York Gov. George Pataki proposed rules to reduce mercury emissions from the state's coal-fired power plants that are more stringent than proposed federal mercury reduction rules.
In a release late Thursday, the governor, a Republican, said the state Department of Environmental Protection would propose a two-phase regulation that would reduce mercury emissions by about 50 percent from current levels by Jan. 1, 2010 and 90 percent by Jan. 1, 2015.
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Mercury is a toxic pollutant released into the air and water after coal is burned that can damage the nervous system and kidneys.
In the first phase of the plan, the state would establish a mercury emissions cap of 786 pounds. New York would not allow the owners of the state's coal plants to trade mercury allowances among themselves or with other states.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency last year proposed a cap-and-trade program to reduce mercury emissions, known as the Clean Air Mercury Rule (CAMR).
Cap and trade is a market-based policy that sets a cap, or maximum limit, on emissions that usually decline over time. The policy allocates emission allowances to the power plants limited by the cap.
Generators can meet the increasingly stringent reduction requirements by purchasing allowances, installing pollution control equipment, changing to cleaner burning coal supplies or shutting older facilities, among other things.
New York and several other states, however, have complained the federal proposal was does not do enough to protect public health and the environment, and decided to adopt their own mercury reduction standards.
In the second phase of the state plan, New York would implement a unit-based limit for each generating facility. In conjunction with the first phase, the state estimated the plan would result in an estimated 90 percent decrease in mercury emissions from current levels to just about 150 pounds per year or less.
There are about 4,800 megawatts of coal-fired generation in New York, representing about 11 percent of the state's generating capacity. All but two of the big units (over 100 MW), owned by AES Corp. (AES.N: Quote, Profile, Research), Dynegy Inc. (DYN.N: Quote, Profile, Research), Mirant Corp. (MIR.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and NRG Energy Inc. (NRG.N: Quote, Profile, Research), entered service in the 1950s and 1960s. One megawatt powers about 800 homes.
New York said it would phase in its mercury program with the federal government's 2005 Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR), which requires additional reductions in nitrogen oxide (NOx) and sulfur dioxide (SO2) pollutants over earlier federal smog and acid rain reduction programs.
