The U.S. Environmental Protection on April 16 released a revised final rule on mercury pollutants and air toxics control for coal-fired and oil-fired power plants that now excludes the broader value of health and environmental improvements not expressly derived from those pollutants—a move agency chief Andrew Wheeler says “foreshadows” its changed approach in assessing benefits and costs to industry of future mandates.
EPA is not scrapping the Obama Administration's 2012 limits on those emissions, said Wheeler, who added they will remain in place for current and future power-plant compliance. "We believe it is appropriate to keep the [existing mercury] regulation in place," he said.