The U.S. Supreme Court, in a 5 to 4 decision, has ruled that the Environmental Protection Agency must take costs into consideration when regulating power plant emissions.
The EPA issued a rule in 2011 requiring electric utilities to minimize their emissions of mercury and other toxic substances from their smokestacks. Westar Energy’s Executive Director of Environmental Services, Brad Loveless, says the equipment is expensive, and the activated carbon it uses would be an ongoing expense.
“We clearly will do what the law requires, but we want to be good stewards of our money, and spend it wisely—make sure there is a real benefit to the public in spending that," Loveless says.
Attorney Bob Eye, who represents the Sierra Club's Kansas Chapter, argues we’re nowhere near the point that mercury discharges are no longer a concern.
“The total health benefits that could be calculated from a long-term and significant reduction in mercury pollution need to be weighed in this as well," Eye says. "Health costs are frequently the orphan in these kinds of cost-benefit analyses.”
The EPA itself had estimated it would cost utilities $9.6 billion a year to comply with the rule.
Bryan Thompson is a reporter for the Heartland Health Monitor.