The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed correcting the “flaws” in the Obama administration’s regulatory analysis for one of its most expensive air quality regulations on…
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed correcting the “flaws” in the Obama administration’s regulatory analysis for one of its most expensive air quality regulations on the books.
The agency’s new accounting of the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS) found the costs of the Obama-era regulation outweighed the benefits by a ratio of 1,600-to-1.
“This action proposes to correct flaws in the Supplemental Finding and proposes to make a revised determination that it is not appropriate and necessary to regulate HAP emissions from coal- and oil-fired power plants,” EPA said in a press release Friday while the federal government was shut down .
EPA estimated the costs of MATS to be $7.4 billion to $9.6 billion a year while the benefits for reducing mercury and other hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) to range from $4 million to $6 million annually. (RELATED: The NY Times Was Silent When TheDCNF Asked If It Would Support Banning Private Jets. Why?)
Based on EPA’s updated analysis, the agency proposed regulations on mercury emissions were not “appropriate and necessary” as defined by the Clean Air Act. However, EPA won’t actually repeal MATS since power plants have largely complied with the rule.
Indeed, utilities already spent $18 billion complying with the 2012 regulation, including shuttering hundreds of coal-fired generators not worth the expense of installing new pollution controls.
The U.
