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Trump’s EPA Signals Changes for Power Plant Mercury Rule

April 21, 2017

The Trump administration is “closely” reviewing the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) final cost consideration finding for its Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS) to determine whether it should reconsider the rule or some part of it, it said in an April 18 federal court filing.

The EPA filed a motion with the D.C. Circuit urging the court to delay oral arguments scheduled on May 18 for a case filed by an assortment of coal producing and generating companies, which are challenging the agency’s “Supplemental Finding That It Is Appropriate and Necessary To Regulate Hazardous Air Pollutants From Coal- and Oil-Fired Electric Utility Steam Generating Units.”

Delay and Deflect

In its court filing, the agency said that it needs more time as it “intends to closely review the Supplemental Finding, and the prior positions taken by the Agency with respect to the Supplemental Finding may not necessarily reflect its ultimate conclusions after that review is complete.”

The Obama administration’s EPA issued the final supplemental finding a year ago after a divided Supreme Court in June 2015 (in Michigan v.…

EPA Rescinds Effluent Limitations Guidelines Rule

April 15, 2017

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The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will review and reconsider revisions to technology-based effluent limitations guidelines (ELG) and standards finalized by the Obama administration in September 2015.

Power generators around the nation have been readying to comply with the rule that sets the first federal limits on the levels of toxic metals in wastewater discharges from steam electric power plants. Plants had been expected to comply with the rule between 2018 and 2023, depending on when they need a new Clean Water Act permit.

As with nearly every environmental rule promulgated by the Obama administration, the ELG rule has been challenged in court by a coalition of utilities led by the Southwestern Electric Power Co. That case, Southwestern Elec. Power Co. v. EPA, et al, No. 15-60821, currently under review by the Fifth Circuit, consolidates seven separate petitions for review.

According to a statement issued by the EPA on April 13, the agency said it would review and reconsider the rule, which it noted, “has been estimated to cost $ 480 million per year and has a reported average cost of $ 1.2 billion per year during the first five years of compliance.”…

U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Finalizes Rule on Wind Turbine Eagle Deaths

December 14, 2016

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The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) on December 14 finalized the latest version of its rule governing permitted levels of eagle deaths at wind turbine farms.

The rule, first issued in 2009, governs the FWS’s administration of the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act, which makes it a criminal offense to kill or injure a bald or golden eagle. However, the law allows for certain “incidental take”—unintentional deaths due to otherwise lawful activities—leaving it to the FWS to decide what activities qualify and how they are to be monitored.

Contentious Issue

The deaths of eagles and other birds at wind turbine farms has become a highly charged issue in recent years, one that cuts across many of the usual political battle lines. Some environmental and wildlife groups have lobbied for stricter controls while others have argued the impact of replacing fossil fuels with wind represents a net gain for bird populations. Many of the companies that own and operate wind farms in the U.S.…