May 24, 2002

The Honorable Christine Whitman
Administrator
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Ariel Rios Building
1200 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W.
Washington, DC 20460

Dear Administrator Whitman:

            We write to express our concern with the recent Administration proposal that we believe would weaken existing mercury provisions of the Clean Air Act.

            Last April, many of us wrote to you to urge your continued support in developing “maximum achievable control technology” (MACT) standards for emissions of mercury and other toxics from power plants as required under section 112 of the Clean Air Act.  In your June 2001 response, you confirmed the science behind EPA’s December 2000 decision to regulate utilities using these strict standards and informed us that EPA had initiated the establishment of MACT standards for oil- and coal-fired electric utility units and anticipated proposing regulations in December 2003 and promulgating them in December 2004.  We hope that the Administration is continuing aggressively on this schedule toward achieving significant reductions of mercury and other toxics by December 2007.

We are concerned the Administration’s February 14, 2002 power plant multi-emission proposal sets a different course that falls well short of reductions expected with the establishment of MACT standards.  According to EPA’s own estimates, a MACT standard promulgated by December 2004 could achieve up to 90 percent reduction in mercury emissions from all coal-fired boilers by December 2007.  This legislative plan proposes to cut mercury emissions from power plants by only 46 percent in 2010 and 69 percent in 2018, and it has been reported that this proposal will replace, rather than complement the more stringent MACT standards set forth under section 112 of the existing Clean Air Act.

While the MACT process guarantees reductions at all coal-fired boilers throughout the U.S., the Administration’s proposal allows full-scale emissions trading.  We believe this would be an inappropriate regulatory tool for a toxic pollutant like mercury and would not be legal under section 112 of the Act.  The MACT process also guarantees that emissions of all toxics emitted by power plants will be reduced.  The Administration’s proposal would regulate only mercury, exempting utilities from regulating the 66 non-mercury toxics.

            There are a number of mercury control technologies being developed by utilities in partnership with the Department of Energy, whose goals are to “reliably reduce mercury emissions by 50 to 70 percent by 2005 and 90 percent by 2010".  Based on preliminary test results, the vendors of these technologies expect to exceed these goals and plan to have their technologies ready for commercial installation in the 2002 to 2004 timeframe.

            For these reasons, we do not see how the Administration’s proposal could be more protective than existing Clean Air Act provisions, or even in line with current technology development.  We support a multi-pollutant approach as the next step to build upon the successes of the Clean Air Act rather than weakening existing provisions of this successful Act and further delay significant reductions in mercury and other air toxics emissions.

            Decades of scientific research indicate that serious health and environmental problems caused by air pollution continue despite emissions reductions achieved by the Clean Air Act, and that additional reductions are necessary.  The Administration’s proposal does not appear to maintain the course of action initiated in December 2000, for mercury or for any other pollutant addressed.  We urge you to work with the White House, other agencies and Congress to aggressively pursue the establishment of strict standards that would significantly strengthen, not weaken, the Clean Air Act and ensure the health and welfare of our citizens and the generations to follow.

            We look forward to working with you to achieve our common goals to significantly reduce hazardous emissions.

                                                                        Sincerely,

Patrick Leahy                                                                           Olympia Snowe

Susan Collins                                                                            John Kerry

Ted Kennedy                                                                           James Jeffords

Maria Cantwell                                                                         Patty Murray

Joseph Lieberman                                                                     Christopher Dodd

John Corzine                                                                            Paul Sarbanes

Barbara Boxer                                                                          Robert Torricelli

Hillary Rodham Clinton                                                             Ron Wyden