Contact: Sarah McBride, smcbride@momscleanairforce.org
Sara Klein, sara_klein@dkcnews.com, 631-905-6403
Washington, DC—Today, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Michael Regan announced new protections against mercury and other air toxics, including arsenic, lead, chromium, and nickel, coming from coal-fired power plants. This is part of a suite of protections from power plant pollution that are being released together to facilitate rational planning and to support reliable and affordable power. Among other benefits of the new standards, the Mercury and Air Toxics rule will address emissions from the burning of lignite coal, an especially polluting form of coal found primarily in North Dakota and Texas. The new standards will also require continuous emissions monitoring for coal plants, which means that facilities will be required to track their pollution at all times—rather than just for short, periodic emissions tests.
Moms Clean Air Force Co-Founder and Director Dominique Browning released the following statement:
“No amount of exposure to mercury is safe. Mercury, a powerful neurotoxin, gets into our food from coal-fired power plants. It migrates through a pregnant woman’s body and lodges in the fatty tissue of the fetal brain, where it disrupts the brain’s delicate architecture. Mercury is also harmful to the developing brains of infants and children. The impacts of mercury toxicity—neurobehavioral harm, disrupted motor function, and learning impairments—can ripple through a lifetime.
“Past EPA protections from mercury have been working. Mercury levels in the US have been dropping. But the job is not done. Moms Clean Air Force applauds the EPA strengthening of mercury protections. This rulemaking means more accountability for polluters: it will require continuous emissions monitoring for coal plants, so that facilities must track their pollution at all times. And we are overjoyed that EPA has closed “the lignite loophole” —so that the dirtiest coal plants, burning the filthiest kind of coal, have to scrub their emissions.
“Moms Clean Air Force has been working on strengthening protections from mercury and other air toxics for more than a decade. Along with mercury emissions, the rule will strengthen protections from other hazardous air pollutants, including lead, arsenic, cadmium, nickel, and chromium—heavy metals linked to adverse birth outcomes, birth defects, developmental harm, and even cancer in children. And it is a step towards addressing long standing inequities in exposure to mercury pollution, inequities borne heavily by communities living near coal plants and communities relying on fish as a primary food source.
“Shockingly, the Trump EPA tried hard to undo mercury protections. We learned that we cannot take for granted that every EPA will consider the harm done to our children—we must fight to protect them and clean up our air. Thankfully, we have reversed course with the Biden EPA and we are once again seeing improvements in protections for our children’s brains, hearts and lungs.”
Statement from Shaina Oliver, Moms Clean Air Force Colorado Field Organizer
“As an Indigenous Díné mother of four, I know from painful experience that Tribes have long been unjustly impacted by power plant pollution. We’ve seen greater prevalence of asthma, diabetes, cancer, heart disease, adverse birth outcomes, mental illness, and premature deaths than the general population. These statistics include me and my family: I have asthma and was born with developmental abnormalities. My grandfather was a coal plant worker, forced to retire early due to frequent asthma attacks on the work site. And many Indigenous communities rely heavily on fishing as a traditional food source: mercury from coal power plants falls from the air into our waterways, contaminating the fish we rely on as an important part of our diets.
“EPA’s decision to finalize stronger Mercury and Air Toxics Standards is a vital step towards addressing generations of environmental injustice and holding coal-fired power plants accountable for their pollution. Indigenous Tribal members have the right to clean water, clean air, and good health—and our children deserve to inherit an environment where they can thrive.”
Statement from Michelle Uberuaga, Moms Clean Air Force Montana Field Organizer
“My family, like many Montana families, loves to fish. I am a mother of three and I have six nieces and nephews here in Livingston. We live on the Yellowstone River and our kids, like most kids in our community, start fishing at a very young age right out our backdoor. Unfortunately, many streams and lakes in Montana have fish consumption advisories due to high mercury concentrations, thanks to the mercury pollution from coal-fired power plants. It’s not always safe to eat the fish you catch, but many Montanans have no other choice, or simply don’t understand the risks—particularly the risks to babies’ and children’s developing brains. It’s pretty easy to forget that industrial pollutants travel in our air and water when you are fishing in a blue-ribbon stream in Montana.
“Montana is also home to one of the nation’s worst-polluting coal plants, the Colstrip power plant that sits on the border of the Crow Nation and the Northern Cheyenne Nation. EPA’s decision today to finalize robust updates to the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards means that coal plants in our state will be held accountable for their pollution. It is a meaningful step towards environmental justice for the Indigenous communities who bear the heaviest burden from this pollution, and it means that families and communities across Montana will be more protected from harmful contamination in our air and waterways.”
Resources:
- Fact Sheet: Mercury 101 (2023)
- Fact Sheet: How Mercury Poisoning Works (updated 2024)
- Keeping Mercury Out of Babies’ Brains
- Indigenous People and Air Pollution (2021)
- Map of worst-polluting coal plants (EDF, 2022)
- Overview: The Health Benefits of Mercury Standards are Much Larger Than Estimated (2019)
- Illustrative Fact Sheet: How Mercury Poisoning Works (2018) ; Click here to view in Spanish (”Cómo Actúa el Envenenamiento por Mercurio”)