EPA cracks the whip on coal-fired power plants

Agency moves to settle lawsuit by vowing stricter emissions rules by 2011

In a move praised by activists as a way to save lives but criticized by industry as potentially driving up electricity costs, the Obama administration has agreed to adopt rules reducing toxic emissions of mercury, soot and other chemicals from all coal-fired power plants in the U.S.

Activists on Friday circulated a consent decree submitted late Thursday by the Environmental Protection Agency in an effort to end litigation.

If accepted by a federal court, the decree would lead to new rules by Nov. 16, 2011, and end a lawsuit brought by health and environmental groups.

A representative for the groups praised the EPA’s move. “Power plants are the largest unregulated industrial source of air toxics,” James Pew of Earthjustice said in a statement. “It is unconscionable that 19 years after the Clean Air Act of 1990, we still do not have air toxics controls on these large existing sources of pollution.”

MSNBC