EPA tightens mercury emissions limits at coal power plants

By MATTHEW DALY
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Environmental Protection Agency is tightening rules that limit emissions of mercury and other harmful pollutants from coal-fired power plants. That’s an update to standards imposed more than a decade ago. The proposal would lower emissions of mercury and other toxic pollutants that can harm brain development of young children and contribute to heart attacks and other health problems in adults. The plan follows a legal finding by EPA in February that regulating toxic emissions under the Clean Air Act is “appropriate and necessary” to protect the public health. The finding reversed a move late in former President Donald Trump’s administration to roll back emissions standards.