Administration Appeals Mercury Regulation Case

The Bush Administration last week appealed a federal court's decision throwing out an EPA regulation to control mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants. That rule capped the amount of the neurotoxic metal that utilities could emit nationwide and then allowed facilities to trade their mercury emissions permits. But in February, a three-judge appellate panel had determined that the rule was unlawful under the Clean Air Act (C&EN, Feb. 18, page 6). On March 24, the Administration, backed by the utility industry, asked all the judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to review and overturn the decision. In its request, the Administration argues that the February ruling requires EPA to set "inappropriate and unnecessary emission standards for power plants." This, the Administration says, is because the ruling forces EPA to regulate using a part of the Clean Air Act that requires stringent, technology-based requirements to control hazardous air pollutants. A legal analysis prepared by the Congressional Research Service predicts that the Administration is unlikely to succeed in getting the decision overturned.