In a monumental victory for Pennsylvania’s environment and public health, state regulators passed the hard-fought proposal to reduce mercury pollution from Pennsylvania’s coal-fired power plants 90 percent by 2015.

While the Pennsylvania General Assembly was considering a measure that would have blocked the Rendell administration’s mercury reduction plan, legislators adjourned for the session without voting on the anti-environmental proposal. The lack of momentum for such an environmental attack is partially credited to broad public support for a policy to reduce mercury pollution. In a recent public comment period on the mercury reduction proposal, more than 99 percent of the input from Pennsylvanians called on environmental officials to clamp down on dangerous mercury pollution from the state’s power plants.

“Pennsylvania is about to adopt one of the strongest mercury pollution reduction programs in the country—a program that will reap enormous benefits for the state’s environment and public health,” said Nathan Willcox, energy and clean air advocate for PennEnvironment. “PennEnvironment applauds the state’s leaders for standing up to the powerful polluters’ lobbyists and implementing a much-needed program in the fight against mercury pollution from the state’s coal-fired power plants.”

Like lead, even small levels of mercury exposure can affect the way kids learn, think, memorize and behave. Coal-fired power plants are responsible for at least 40 percent of the nation’s mercury emissions, and Pennsylvania’s power plants have the second highest mercury emissions in the country. This mercury accumulates in lakes and rivers, contaminating fish, which end up on our dinner plates.

Unfortunately, the Bush administration weakened the Clean Air Act’s mercury reduction requirements so that the oldest and dirtiest power plants in the country—many of which are located in Pennsylvania—could buy their way out of significant mercury emission reductions. By comparison, the Rendell administration’s state-level rule will require 90 percent mercury reductions from Pennsylvania’s coal-fired power plants by 2015, and not allow Pennsylvania’s plants to opt out of reducing their emissions.

“Pennsylvanians know that we can’t depend on the Bush administration to protect our environment and public health,” said Willcox. “The Rendell administration should be applauded for implementing this much-needed state-level program in the absence of federal leadership on this critical environmental issue.”

This spring, however, legislation was introduced in the state House and Senate that would have blocked the proposal and forced Pennsylvania to adopt weaker regulations. The Senate went so far as to pass SB 1201, which would have derailed the stronger mercury protections. Fortunately, this anti-environmental proposal stalled. And while the state Senate was expected to try and block the mercury rule last fall, that effort failed to materialize as the legislative session wrapped up last November.

The Rendell administration’s mercury rule has also been supported by a diverse coalition of groups, including the Pennsylvania Council of Churches, the Pennsylvania PTA, and the state Nurses Association. The final regulatory hurdle for the mercury reduction program was cleared on Nov. 12, when the five-member Independent Regulatory Review Commission (IRRC) voted in support of the program.

“Pennsylvania’s serious environmental problems require the strongest possible solutions, and the new mercury reduction program is a huge step in the right direction,” concluded Willcox.