The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a proposed revised Supplemental Cost Finding for the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS) and a Clean Air Act-required “risk and technology review.”
The EPA evaluated the cost to coal- and oil-fired power plants of complying with the MATS rule and the financial benefits of regulating hazardous air pollutant (HAP) emissions from these power plants. They determined the cost of compliance with the MATS rule, estimated to be $7.4 to $9.6 billion annually was not justified by the benefits that were estimated to be only $4 to $6 million annually. The Agency proposes to determine that it is not “appropriate and necessary” to regulate HAP emissions from power plants under Section 112 of the Clean Air Act.
The emission standards and other requirements of the MATS rule, first broadcast in 2012, would remain in place as EPA is not proposing to remove coal- and oil-fired power plants from the list of sources that are regulated under Section 112 of the Act.
Additional information is available at www.epa.gov/mats.
Comments