WASHINGTON (03/16/05) -- The Clean Air Mercury Rule, a rule that will significantly reduce mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants across the country, has been approved by Acting U.S. EPA Administrator Steve Johnson.

The Clean Air Mercury Rule rule limits mercury emissions from new and existing coal-fired power plants, and creates a market-based cap-and-trade program that will permanently cap utility mercury emissions in two phases: the first phase cap is 38 tons beginning in 2010, with a final cap set at 15 tons beginning in 2018. These mandatory declining caps, coupled with significant penalties for noncompliance, will ensure that mercury reduction requirements are achieved and sustained.

"This rule marks the first time the United States has regulated mercury emissions from power plants,"  Johnson said. "In so doing, we become the first nation 
in the world to address this remaining source of mercury pollution."

The cap-and-trade system established under this rule also creates incentives for continued development and testing of promising mercury control technologies that are efficient and effective, and that could later be used in other parts of the world. In addition, by making mercury emissions a tradable commodity, the system provides a strong motivation for some utilities to make early emission reductions and for continuous improvements in control technologies.

While concentrations of mercury in the air are usually low, mercury emissions can reach lakes, rivers and estuaries and eventually build up in fish tissue. Americans are exposed to mercury primarily by eating certain species of fish. 

More information on the rule is available online.