Power Plants Won’t Remove Mercury Controls, Wheeler Says (1)

Power plants won’t stop controlling mercury pollution after the EPA said the existing requirements were sufficient, the agency’s top official told the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.

“I don’t believe any piece of mercury control technology equipment installed at power plants will be removed under our preferred proposal,” acting EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler told Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) at a Jan. 16 hearing on his nomination to head the Environmental Protection Agency.

Cardin said he failed to understand the EPA’s position on the mercury and air toxics standards, or MATS. He repeatedly asked Wheeler for reassurance that ...