mercury
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The Men Who Cried Wolf
If a fire broke out in your office right now, would you know what to do? Would you know where to go? You likely would, thanks in large part to codes requiring fire exits and fire drills. Today, we accept these basic standards without even pausing; they are plain common sense rules government has developed […]
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EPA releases mercury safeguard to protect Americans
We are happy to see the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today propose a critical air quality standard to protect Americans against life-threatening air pollution such as mercury and arsenic from power plants, which currently emit air toxics with no limits. According to EPA, each year this new protection will save as many as 17,000 lives […]
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Why it’s hard to make polluters pay for their own messes
Scoffing at the idea of externalities is a lot easier when wearing a gas mask.Industrial boilers and incinerators currently receive an enormous public subsidy. They emit toxic air pollutants like mercury, cadmium, and acid gases, which even in extremely small amounts cause a range of health maladies from asthma to heart attacks to premature death, […]
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Is EPA running scared from the incoming Republican Congress?
I've been worrying aloud on the blog that the Obama administration doesn't seem to be doing much to prepare for the relentless assault on EPA that's already underway, not only on its coming greenhouse gas regulations but on its entire agenda. Instead, the agency looks to be backing down.
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Indiana coal plant will stop sending soot toward Chicago — in a few years
An especially filthy coal-fired power plant in northwest Indiana will belch its last cloud of soot, carbon, mercury, and other pollutants sometime between 2014 and 2017.
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Scholastic steps into the Chamber of Hypocrisy
Scholastic, the education company, has teamed up with the Chamber of Commerce to "educate" children about the perils of government energy regulation.
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We should pay to shut down dirty old coal plants
“You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.” Inspired by this adage, we could create a positive financial incentive to induce power companies to shut down old coal plants. And because coal plants are so costly to society, a Cash for Coal Clunkers program could be revenue neutral.
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Utilities can meet EPA standards without threatening reliability
Coal utilities are trying to scare Congress into thinking that if EPA follows up with its planned regulations, electricity rates will soar and there will be reliability problems in the electricity grid. Is it true? According to a comprehensive new analysis, no.
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The two biggest (non-CO2) threats to coal power from the EPA
EPA is working furiously on clean-air rules, and coal-dominated utilities are terrified. Some of the oldest, dirtiest coal plants will be shut down.