AP:
EPA Exceeds Mercury Cleanup Projection
By JOHN HEILPRIN, Associated Press Writer The
Environmental Protection Agency estimated in an internal report as much as $2
billion in yearly benefits from cutting mercury pollution just in the Southeast
40 times the value the agency projected publicly for the entire nation. Critics
said the report is evidence the Bush administration sought to play down the
benefits of reducing mercury pollution in order to justify not requiring owners
of power plants to buy the best available technology for lowering mercury
emissions. "EPA
has a track record of withholding information that doesn't support their
agenda, and this is the latest example," said Felice Stadler, a policy
specialist with the National Wildlife Federation. The
report, a copy of which was obtained Thursday by The Associated Press, dates to
January 2004. That was 14 months before the EPA released its mercury rule for
power plants. For the
rest of the story...... http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050429/ap_on_sc/epa_mercury |