Ten of the Nation's Largest Utilities Would Reap $800 Million
By Escaping Cuts in Mercury Pollution Mandated by Current Law

Industry pushes "Unhealthy Skies" bill to roll back the Clean Air Act instead

Ten of the nation's largest utility companies would reap more than $800 million if they fight off a mandate to make deep cuts in toxic mercury pollution from power plant smokestacks, a report released today by Environmental Action concludes.

The White House and many of the nation's utilities are pushing hard for Congressional passage of the "Unhealthy Skies" initiative, which would repeal the Clean Air Act requirement that power plants make 90% cuts in mercury by 2008.

The report is the first to calculate how escaping tough mercury controls would benefit the balance sheets of the nation's utilities.

"Trying to cut the legs out from under the Clean Air Act might make sense to utility executives in the boardroom," said Environmental Action's advocate Josh Irwin, "but not to the pediatrician in the doctor's office or the parents at the kitchen table."

Unhealthy skies would allow nearly seven times more mercury into the air than even current law allows and push off cuts in mercury pollution by at least a decade longer than what current law requires. Coal-fired power plants are responsible for more than 40 percent of manmade mercury emissions in the United States.

The EPA estimated in 2004 that one in six American women of childbearing age has levels of mercury in her body high enough to endanger a developing fetus, should she get pregnant.

Emily Rusch, Environmental Action's field organizer said that human's primary exposure to mercury comes from eating fish, where mercury accumulates up the aquatic food chain and concentrates in the fish at the top. In 44 states across the country officials post mercury advisories warning residents about eating at least some of the freshwater fish caught there, citing the risks to large swaths of the population, particularly young children and pregnant women.

Environmental Action calls for lawmakers to reject the Unhealthy Skies initiative and said Congress and federal regulators should instead simply follow through on the Clean Air Act mandate of 90 percent reduction in mercury pollution from power plants by 2008.

Rusch said that for dangerous pollutants like mercury, the Act requires utilities to use the control technology that can do the most to cut pollution.

In May, a Senate committee deadlocked over passage of the Unhealthy Skies bill, keeping the bill from advancing to the Senate floor. But Sen. Thomas Carper, (D-Delaware) a key swing vote on that committee, has signaled his willingness to negotiate a new version.

"Why negotiate down from what current law already requires, just satisfying utility pressure in Washington, D.C.?" Irwin said. "The main selling point of a new version of Unhealthy Skies would be that it isn't quite as bad as the old version."

The report estimated profits for 10 US power companies if they escape a mandate to make 90% reductions in mercury pollution:

Researchers relied on EPA cost studies of pollution control technology, Department of Energy data on how much power each utility produces, and SEC filings from the utilities themselves.