Its Finally Time to Regulate Air Toxics

The author contends that coal- and oil-fired power plants have lacked national air toxics regulations for a decade, leading to an 'intolerable situation' for public health and the environment. The text asserts that the EPA's economic benefit analyses are incomplete because they primarily measure particulate matter reductions while ignoring the benefits of reducing carcinogens, heavy metals, and respiratory irritants. It highlights that mercury controls can yield rapid environmental benefits and that some existing sources have already achieved mercury emission reductions of 'upwards of 98% from inlet' with minimal additional investment. The author argues that robust standards, alongside the Clean Air Transport Rule and New Source Performance Standards for greenhouse gases, would drive technological innovation in the energy generation sector.

• Coal- and oil-fired power plants are the largest industry emitters of mercury, dioxins, acid gases, arsenic, nickel, and other heavy metals, yet they have lacked national regulations for ten years.
• The EPA's typical benefits analysis is considered incomplete because it focuses on particulate matter and fails to quantify the economic benefits of reducing respiratory irritants, carcinogens, heavy metals, or the resulting benefits to the ecosystem.
• Evidence from a 2009 General Accounting Office report indicates that some existing power plant sources achieved mercury emission reductions of over 98% from the inlet with very little additional investment beyond adjusting existing controls.

APA

Weeks, A. (2011). Its Finally Time to Regulate Air Toxics. Clean Air Task Force. https://www.catf.us/2011/03/its-finally-time-to-regulate-air-toxics/

Chicago

Weeks, Ann. Its Finally Time to Regulate Air Toxics. Clean Air Task Force, 2011. https://www.catf.us/2011/03/its-finally-time-to-regulate-air-toxics/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=Weeks |first1=Ann |title=Its Finally Time to Regulate Air Toxics |publisher=Clean Air Task Force |date=15 March 2011 |url=https://www.catf.us/2011/03/its-finally-time-to-regulate-air-toxics/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{weeks2011its, author = {Weeks, Ann}, title = {{Its Finally Time to Regulate Air Toxics}}, publisher = {Clean Air Task Force}, year = {2011}, month = mar, url = {https://www.catf.us/2011/03/its-finally-time-to-regulate-air-toxics/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }