HARRISBURG, Pa., June 5, 2006 /PRNewswire

 

Information from the Department of Environmental Protection's (DEP's) own Mercury Monitoring Network shows no connection between a 47 percent reduction in mercury emissions from power plants and an alleged mercury "hotspot."

Last week DEP made the allegation that high mercury readings from a monitoring station in Cresson, Cambria County were caused by four nearby coal- fired power plants - Homer City, Keystone, Seward and Conemaugh.

"What we actually found when we looked at the data was three of those plants - Homer City, Keystone and Seward - had installed state-of-the-art pollution control equipment that reduced their mercury emissions by 47 percent, yet there was no change in the amount of mercury seen at DEP's Cresson monitoring site," said Douglas L. Biden, President Electric Power Generation Association. "This indicates that DEP's speculation about hotspots of mercury caused by local power plants is simply not true based on their own data."

Mercury emissions declined at those plants due to the installation of advanced air pollution control equipment to reduce air pollutants causing acid rain and ground level ozone pollution. In the case of Conemaugh, that advanced equipment was installed in 1994 and 1995 before DEP began monitoring for mercury.

Statewide, there already has been a 33 percent reduction in mercury emissions from Pennsylvania power plants from 9,958 pounds in 1999 to 6,640 pounds in 2004, according to official reports by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the federal Toxic Release Inventory.

"The fact that we also have not seen any discernable reduction, let alone a 33 percent reduction statewide in DEP's Mercury Monitoring Network in response to the 33 percent reduction in mercury emissions from power plants, proves again there is no direct link and that there are no locally caused mercury hotspots due to power plants," said Biden.

"What this information does say is that mercury is a multi-state and regional problem, just like acid rain and ground level ozone pollution, and it should be handled in the same way through a cap and trade program," said Biden. "Because DEP's proposed mercury rule does not include the cap and trade system means we will not be able to get the mercury reductions we need through the most cost-effective means possible."

Biden also said that Dr. James A. Lynch, from The Pennsylvania State University who runs DEP's Mercury Monitoring Network, told DEP's Mercury Rule Work Group last October that information from the Network alone could not be used to determine the source of mercury emissions being deposited in Pennsylvania.

Dr. Lynch has recommended DEP do what is called a "source/receptor" study to pinpoint the source of mercury emissions for the last several years, but DEP declined.

The Electric Power Generation Association is part of a coalition of labor, business and the coal industry that supports bipartisan legislation in the Senate and House to reduce mercury emissions from Pennsylvania power plants by 86 percent.

The legislation is Senate Bill 1201 and House Bill 2610.

The coalition has criticized a rule proposed by the Department of Environmental Protection which could result in the premature retirement of Pennsylvania's coal-fired electric generating capacity, the loss of family- sustaining jobs, increased electricity costs for home and business customers and cause power plant owners to switch to burning lower-mercury coal from out of state.

SOURCE Electric Power Generation Association

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