COAL-FIRED power plants in the US will soon be trading mercury pollution permits as part of a 鈥渃ap-and-trade鈥� system designed to cut emissions by 70 per cent.
A similar scheme introduced in 1993 successfully reduced sulphur emissions. But environmentalists say the mercury caps, announced on 15 March, are too lenient, and the scheme will increase mercury pollution in some parts of the US.
The country鈥檚 600 coal-fired power plants emit about 48 tonnes of mercury every year. Some of this finds its way into waterways, where it is converted into highly toxic methyl mercury.
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Under the cap-and-trade system, the Environmental Protection Agency will grant each power plant a quota. Plants will be able to purchase additional quotas from others that have reduced their emissions by more than required.
The system sets a nationwide mercury cap of 34 tonnes in 2010, and 15 tonnes in 2018. Environmentalists say this isn鈥檛 enough. In the final days of the Clinton administration, the EPA was considering cutting mercury levels by 90 per cent within three years. Jon Devine, an attorney with the New York-based Natural Resources Defense Council, called the regulation a 鈥渟talling tactic.鈥�
Because mercury pollution often settles close to its source the regulations could lead to local hotspots with very high mercury levels, the NRDC and other critics say.
