Overview
- Public health and environmental groups filed the petition Monday in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to challenge EPA’s repeal of mercury and air toxics protections and the cutback of real-time emissions monitoring.
- Reuters reports that the administration in February scrapped a 2024 update that would have cut mercury from coal plants by 70% and other toxic metals by about two-thirds, which the Environmental Defense Fund says would have saved $420 million in health costs through 2037.
- The coalition cites EPA data showing that after two-year exemptions for older coal plants took effect last year, sulfur dioxide rose 18% nationwide and mercury increased 9%.
- E&E News notes the rollback removed stricter controls for plants that burn lignite, a low-grade coal linked to pollution levels more than three times those of other coal operations.
- Advocates say ending continuous emissions monitoring strips communities of real-time smokestack data, even though the original 2015 standards cut power-plant mercury by more than 90% and are tied to fewer asthma attacks and other health harms.