State Pushed to Reduce Mercury Emissions

Oct 08 - Evansville Courier & Press

Environmentalists want state regulators to take more aggressive steps to reduce the amount of mercury released by Indiana's coal- fired power plants.

Indiana's coal-powered utilities are among the nation's biggest sources of mercury -- a naturally occurring metal that is toxic when released into the air, water and soil, said John Blair, president of the Evansville-based Valley Watch.

"We really get hit every day, 365 days a year, no matter which way the wind blows. We're tired of paying for low electricity rates with our health," he told members of the Indiana Air Pollution Control Board on Wednesday.

The regulator panel held the public hearing in response to a petition filed by the Hoosier Environmental Council, which wants the state to require a 90 percent reduction in mercury emissions from the state's power plants by 2008.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is expected to issue rules in March to cut emissions 70 percent by 2018.

Environmentalists and some health experts say Indiana should write tougher rules, just as several states, including Connecticut and New Jersey, have done.

Burning coal generates more than 90 percent of Indiana's electricity.

Dwayne Burke, director of environmental affairs at Indianapolis Power & Light Co., said the company is committed to reducing mercury emissions but endorses the federal standard of 70 percent by 2018.

"That's a reasonable reduction in a reasonable time frame. Ninety percent is not reasonable," Burke said.

He said the company's rates are among the lowest of investor- owned utilities because 98 percent of the utility's electricity is generated by coal.

Indiana utilities released 4,928 pounds of mercury into the air in 2002, among the highest amounts in the nation, according to the most recent federal data.