EPA administrator says 90 percent mercury reduction by 2008 not possible

<p>EPA Administrator Mike Leavitt defended his agencys stance on curbing mercury emissions by 70 percent within 15 years, saying Tuesday a 90 percent reduction by 2008 is not possible because the best available technology is largely untested.</p><p>Id like to inject a little reality into this, Leavitt told business and environmental leaders at a gathering of the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce. Dealing with mercury isnt that easy. It involves complex science. It involves a substantial investment by power plants. Its an investment that theyre prepared to make, but they need to make right.</p><p>Leavitt said the EPA proposal announced Monday to give power plants up to 15 years to install technology to reduce mercury pollution makes the most sense when balancing environmental interests with the interests of the business community. The EPA says its proposal would result in a 70 percent reduction by 2018.</p><p>Leavitts stop in Atlanta was his first in a series of events around the country to tout the proposal. As he spoke, a small group of protesters from environmental groups, including the Sierra Club, stood outside, shouted and held signs critical of the proposal.</p><p>The League of Conservation Voters, a Washington advocacy group, said the decision lets some of Georgias largest polluters off the hook for mercury pollution, while threatening the health of woman and children in Georgia and across the nation.</p><p>Leavitt, who was governor of Utah when Salt Lake City hosted the 2002 Olympic Games, compared the debate over mercury standards to the debate over the appropriate level to set metal detector devices used to screen people attending Olympic events.</p><p>Were certainly counting on the technology, to reduce mercury emissions, Leavitt said. But to turn it around that fast is not like turning up the magnetometer to make it safer.</p><p>EPAs first-ever proposed controls on mercury pollution from power plants would ease limits envisioned by the Clinton administration, letting owners in some cases delay meeting requirements until 2018. They would let industry meet the first six years goals by using pollution controls already installed to stem smog and acid rain.</p><p>The controls were issued to meet a deadline under a settlement with the Natural Resources Defense Council. The group sued during the Clinton administration to force mercury limits on power plants. The rule must be made final within a year.</p><p>The Bush administrations mercury plan is a departure from the Clinton administration approach. In 2001, EPA estimated that mercury could be cut by as much as 90 percent, to 5.5 tons, by 2008 if the best available technology were used as the Clinton EPA had hoped, according to EPA documents obtained by advocacy group National Environmental Trust.</p><p>In an interview with The Associated Press on Tuesday, Leavitt said the EPA, as an agency, never made such a declaration.</p><p>Im aware of no declaration as such, Leavitt said. Theres a big difference in being able to make political statements and actually having to do it. The technology doesnt exist to do what that person said.</p><p>On the Net:</p><p>HASH(0x2865968)</p>

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