Read the full story at E&E News. See also coverage in the New York Times.
A quixotic and clamorous regulatory saga perhaps unmatched in Clean Air Act history has ended — at least for now.
In a final rule unveiled Friday, EPA restored the legal underpinnings of a 2012 set of regulations for emissions of mercury, a neurotoxin that’s particularly dangerous to babies, and a host of other dangerous pollutants from coal-fired power plants.
The rule will now be key to any effort by President Joe Biden’s administration to strengthen those regulations and clamp down on a controversial source of climate change-inducing air pollution. More broadly, it could provide a foothold for better incorporating expected environmental justice benefits into the rationales for future efforts to curb pollution (Greenwire, Feb. 7, 2022).
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