Mercury

Because compliance costs to coal- and oil-fired power plants for the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS) far exceed quantifiable benefits to regulating hazardous air pollutant (HAP) emissions, the Trump administration has proposed it is not “appropriate and necessary” to regulate HAP emissions from power plants under Section 112 of the Clean Air Act (CAA), […]

Aqua Metrology Systems (AMS), has recently completed the successful demonstration of a proof of concept for the removal of dissolved mercury (Hg2+) in power plant wastewater. The SafeGuard™ H2O system developed by AMS offers a low-cost, reliable remediation system proven to address a range of trace metal contaminants, including ionic mercury. With more than 300 coal […]

Industry aggressively fought the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS) when the Obama administration proposed it in 2011 and finalized it in February 2012, warning it would precipitate the closure of a swathe of coal capacity nationwide. Six years later, the rule appears to have had a sizable impact on the power sector, but not […]

In a bid to tamp down pollution, India’s government in December 2015 notified the country’s coal generators they would need to meet—for the first time—new emissions limits for nitrogen oxides (NOx), sulfur dioxide (SO2), and mercury, as well as tightened limits for particulate matter (PM) and water consumption. The gazetted notification gave new plants until […]

LEWIS CENTER, Ohio–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Midwest Energy Emissions Corp. (OTCQB: MEEC) (ME2C), a leader in mercury emissions control in North America, has acquired all patent rights for its Sorbent Enhancement Additive (SEATM) mercury emissions control technology from the Energy & Environmental Research Center Foundation (EERCF), an organization that works to provide innovative solutions to the world’s energy and environmental challenges. […]

In two separate actions over the past 24 hours, the D.C. Circuit granted the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) request to suspend cases challenging the Clean Power Plan and the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS).   The orders are the latest in a series of similar actions over the past month by the D.C. Circuit that […]

Rallied by the Supreme Court’s unprecedented stay of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Clean Power Plan, a coalition of 20 states has asked the high court to stay another disputed agency rule: the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS). The states are: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, North […]

The Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS) will remain in effect as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) works on a final cost finding, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ordered on Dec. 15. The court noted in a two-page order that the EPA “has represented that it is on track to issue […]

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Nov. 20 issued a supplemental finding that consideration of costs does not affect its previous conclusion that regulation of coal- and oil-fired power plants is “appropriate and necessary” under section 112 of the Clean Air Act. The finding was in response to a June decision by the U.S. Supreme […]

India and 73 other countries submitted their carbon emission reduction targets for 2025 and 2030—or Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs)—ahead of the deadline last week, with just two months remaining until talks to confront climate change are due to begin in Paris.  The United Nations (UN) has so far received 120 separate pledges covering 147 […]