We've read the great news from Chicago this week that the antiquated Fisk and Crawford power plants will close over the next couple of years. As diaries here stated, this was a great day for the Beyond Coal Campaign, as well as the Little Village Environmental Justice Organization, Pilsen Environmental Rights and Reform Organization, residents of the affected areas, and Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who brokered the agreement with Midwest Generation.
This was also a victory for President Barack Obama, who has fought mercury poisoning ever since he came to Washington as a senator in January 2005.
In his first year in the United States Senate, Barack Obama voted to include oil & gas smokestacks in mercury regulations. In 2006 and 2007, Senator Obama proposed both the Mercury Market Minimization Act, and the Missing Mercury in Manufacturing Monitoring and Mitigation Act. These did not become law, but on the eve of the 2008 election, President Bush signed Senator Obama's Mercury Export Ban Act of 2008 into law.
Senator Obama, the Democratic presidential candidate, said, "The president's approval of this bipartisan bill is an important victory for millions of the world's most vulnerable citizens who are exposed to the harmful effects of mercury every day."
"Exposure to mercury leads to serious developmental problems in children as well as problems affecting vision, motor skills, blood pressure, and fertility in adults," said Obama. "Despite our country's improved efforts to contain and collect mercury over the years, we remain one of the world's leading exporters of this dangerous product, so I am proud this bill will finally ban mercury exports."
S. 906, the Mercury Export Ban Act of 2008, prohibits the transfer of elemental mercury by federal agencies, bans U.S. export of elemental mercury by 2013, and requires the Department of Energy to designate and manage an elemental mercury long-term disposal facility.
Last December 21, President Obama issued a memorandum on the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards rule for power plants (the "MATS Rule").
This rule, issued after careful consideration of public comments, prescribes standards under section 112 of the Clean Air Act to control emissions of mercury and other toxic air pollutants from power plants, which collectively are among the largest sources of such pollution in the United States. The EPA estimates that by substantially reducing emissions of pollutants that contribute to neurological damage, cancer, respiratory illnesses, and other health risks, the MATS Rule will produce major health benefits for millions of Americans -- including children, older Americans, and other vulnerable populations. Consistent with Executive Order 13563 (Improving Regulation and Regulatory Review), the estimated benefits of the MATS Rule far exceed the estimated costs.
The MATS Rule can be implemented through the use of demonstrated, existing pollution control technologies. The United States is a global market leader in the design and manufacture of these technologies, and it is anticipated that U.S. firms and workers will provide much of the equipment and labor needed to meet the substantial investments in pollution control that the standards are expected to spur.
These new standards will promote the transition to a cleaner and more efficient U.S. electric power system. This system as a whole is critical infrastructure that plays a key role in the functioning of all facets of the U.S. economy, and maintaining its stability and reliability is of critical importance. It is therefore crucial that implementation of the MATS Rule proceed in a cost-effective manner that ensures electric reliability.
The effects of closing antiquated coal plants do more than reduce mercury:
Bill Sweet remarked in December, "together with the revised Cross State Clean Air Rule, issued by EPA in July, the tighter rules will encourage utilities and energy companies to shut down older and dirtier coal-fired generating plants, significantly reducing greenhouse gas emissions besides cleansing the air of noxious pollutants." This has consequences well beyond the neighborhoods where Fisk and Crawford have operated for decades. Their closings, as well as the eight other closings of old plants in New Jersey, Ohio, and Pennsylvania announced this week, are victories in the struggle to reduce greenhouse gases and improve environmental health and safety in vulnerable communities.
They are perfectly consistent with the words and actions of Barack Obama in the seven years he has worked in Washington. Here in Chicago, we are grateful to the LVEJO, PIRRO, the Beyond Coal Coalition, and Mayor Rahm Emanuel for all the work that has led to this announcement. We are also grateful to President Barack Obama for the work he has done over the years on this issue.
Thank you, President Obama.