Washington (Platts)--20Jul2012/559 pm EDT/2159 GMT
The US Environmental Protection Agency said Friday it would reconsider technical issues related to its the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards rule based on concerns raised by developers of five fossil fuel-fired generation units. The agency said its final mercury rule would remain in place and its costs and public health benefits would not be altered during the reconsideration of the technical issues raised in petitions by the companies. EPA said it planned to complete the reconsideration by March 2013. "By moving quickly to review the new information, this action will provide greater certainty for five planned future facilities, in Georgia, Kansas, Texas, and Utah that would be covered by the standards," the agency said. EPA Assistant Administrator for Air and Radiation Gina McCarthy, in a letter Friday, notified the companies and industry groups that sought the reconsideration. "We anticipate that the focus of the reconsideration rulemaking will be a review of issues that are largely technical in nature," McCarthy said. "Our expectation is that under the reconsideration rule new sources will be required to install the latest and most effective pollution controls and will be able to monitor compliance with the new standards with proven monitoring methods." Parties seeking the reconsideration of the rule's technical issues included Tenaska Trailblazer Partners, Deseret Power Electric Cooperative, Sunflower Electric Power, White Stallion Energy Center, Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association and Babcock & Wilcox Power Generation Group, the Coal Utilization Research Council and the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, Iron Ship Builders, Blacksmiths and Forgers & Helpers. The companies developing new coal-fired units are also part of a suit against EPA's rule in federal court. The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit agreed to expedite their case and sever it from the main petition challenging the agency's MATS rule. MATS, which was finalized in February, seeks to limit mercury emissions and other air toxins from the power sector by having units install and operate "maximum achievable control technology" by 2015. State permitting authorities may provide an extra year for compliance. "In agreeing to reconsider emissions standards for new power plants, the EPA is acknowledging that its standards are unachievable," said Ken Anderson, general manager of Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association, a consumer-owned, not-for-profit power supplier based in Westminster, Colorado.--Cathy Cash, cathy_cash@platts.com--Edited by Keiron Greenhalgh, keiron_greenhalgh@platts.com