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Granholm
Announces Mercury Reduction Proposal
Gongwer News
Service, April 17, 2006
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Michigan's power plants will have to reduce mercury emissions by
90 percent by 2015 under a proposal Governor Jennifer Granholm
announced Monday, a standard that exceeds the federal plan to
reduce mercury emissions by 70 percent by 2018.
Environmentalists hailed the move as critical to improving the
state's health and environment. But utilities and business
groups questioned why the state should have a reduction proposal
separate from the federal rule.
Business groups and utilities also warned of the potential cost
of the proposal, saying it could make electric generation
uncompetitive in Michigan.
And in what appears to be an early dispute between business and
environmental groups there is also a question of whether
technology exists to meet that standard, with environmentalists
saying it does and business groups saying it does not.
The announcement comes after an advisory group to Ms. Granholm
worked on suggested proposals.
"Michigan must take actions to protect its citizens and
environment from mercury contamination, but we must do so in a
way that balances energy, environment and the economy," Ms.
Granholm said in a press release. With the rule, future
generations of Michigan citizens will be able to enjoy clean air
and safe water.
Michigan is not the only state to call for a 90 percent
reduction in mercury emissions. Illinois, Minnesota, Georgia and
Pennsylvania have also called for 90 percent reduction in
mercury emissions. But business officials said the reduction
won't be as major an issue in Illinois since much of that
state's electric generation is from nuclear power. And in
Pennsylvania, officials said utilities will be considered
meeting the standards if they have scrubbers on their smoke
stacks.
"We know we will need additional capacity and we are not going
to be able to get with solar or wind, so coal and nuclear are
our only options," said Doug Roberts Jr. of the Michigan Chamber
of Commerce. The state has little choice but to build coal-fired
generation plants, he said.
But Jason Barbose of the Public Interest Research Group in
Michigan praised the announcement, saying it would go a long way
towards making the state's children mercury free.
David Gard of the Michigan Environmental Council said the
announcement was an "affirmation that coal-fired power plants
can, and must, utilize state-of-the-art technology to slash
mercury releases."
And Paul Shaheen of the Michigan Council for Maternal and Child
Health said he was "delighted" Ms. Granholm had taken the
"aggressive step to protect public health."
Scott Simon of DTE Energy, which has six-coal fired plants to
generate electricity, was cautious in saying the utility would
work with the administration in developing a mercury reduction
proposal.
The company has "always been committed to reasonable,
cost-effective environmental policy," Mr. Simon said. "But we
need to make sure electric generation is also cost competitive."
Dan Bishop of Consumers Energy, which has four coal-fired
plants, said the company did not think Michigan needed its own
rule that is more stringent than the federal rule.
If the state does pursue its own rule then utilities have to be
assured they can recapture the costs of developing the emissions
reduction technology, Mr. Bishop said, and that the companies
will not be directed to meet the state's requirement if the
means do not exist to meet that proposal.
Under the proposal, the first phase of reduction would be based
on the federal Clean Air Mercury Rule. The second phase would go
beyond the federal rule to achieve the 90 percent reduction by
2015.
Ms. Granholm said in her statement that she is also asking that
the state take into account "technological and cost-based
considerations" in reaching the reduction effort. For example,
utilities will be given more time to meet the rules if they
implement new technology to cut emissions and finds it does not
meet the requirements. A company could also get additional
compliance time if it has been reducing emissions but the cost
of going beyond the federal requirements will exceed specified
percentages of the company's gross revenues from electric
production.
Environmental Quality Director Steve Chester said the
department's next step will be creating a stakeholder workgroup,
as it does with other air quality rules, to develop the first
draft of the rule. Among other issues that group would be
charged with addressing would be the starting point for
measuring the 90 percent reduction and how much credit would be
given for existing technology on plants.
The department's prior mercury workgroup determined 3,082 pounds
of mercury were released from power plants in 1999, but he said
the new workgroup would have to decide if that was the
appropriate starting point. Officials noted emissions have
dropped in recent years with some new emissions technology
implemented and with some fall-off in the growth of energy
demand.
Mr. Chester and others said there is available, affordable
technology to meet the emissions reduction requirement. But he
said the rule would provide utilities an exception if they can
show the technology is not, in fact, available or would be too
expensive.
Again, what would be considered too expensive and how long
utilities would be able to hold off on meeting the requirement
would be left to the workgroup to decide.
Whatever the cost, Mr. Chester said it should be reflected in
electric rates. "I'm supportive of them recouping these costs,
not just on this but on other efforts to control pollution," he
said.
And Mr. Chester said Michigan could face some challenges that
other states might not in meeting the reduction goal. "We've got
an older coal fleet," he said. Officials said the average age of
the 65 generating units, spread among 21 power plants, is about
40 years, with ages ranging from 14 years to 60 years.
Mr. Roberts said he hoped the emissions rule would be considered
in tandem with Ms. Granholm's directive on energy needs in the
state. He also questioned why such an important proposal was
being handled as an administrative rule rather than as a
statute.
Ari Adler, spokesperson for Senate Majority Leader Ken Sikkema
(R-Wyoming), said the proposal seemed like a "great deal of
nothing." There were so many caveats in the proposal that it
seemed it "would reduce complaints from environmentalists faster
than it would mercury emissions," he said.
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