FABRIC
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February 2009
No. 400

PA Judge Tosses State Mercury Rule

A judge threw out a regulation that made Pennsylvania the first major coal mining state to require coal-fired power plants to cut mercury emissions beyond levels set by federal standards. Commonwealth Court Judge Dan Pellegrini ruled Thursday that the rule is unlawful, invalid and unenforceable. The two year old rule was challenged by PPL Corp. PPL spokesman George Lewis said the company was worried about wasting millions of dollars on pollution control equipment to meet a state standard that may be erased or preempted once the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency writes a federal regulation to control mercury. “It really for us is a question of certainty and knowing that the upgrades we make, the technology we put in our coal plants, will be the right ones…and not an interim measure that we’ll have to take out,” Lewis said. Governor Ed Rendell’s administration issued a statement that said it was deciding whether to appeal. It warned that Pellegrini’s decision threatened to derail plans by a number of coal-fired power plants to install pollution control equipment.

 

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