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The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

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Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Long Delayed Air Pollution Rules Will Limit Mercury

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Monday, December 21, 2015   

CHARLESTON, W. Va. - After a 20-year court fight, the EPA is set to put power plant pollution rules in place that supporters say will save thousands of lives a year. Industry lawsuits had stopped the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards from going into effect at coal and oil-fired power stations around the country but a final decision by a federal appeals court cleared the way for the limits to go into effect next spring.

Jim Pew, staff attorney with Earthjustice, helped argue the case.

"These rules will save between 4,200 and 11,000 lives every year," says Pew. "The impacts of this pollution, and the impacts of EPA finally moving to control it, are enormous."

According to Pew, air pollution causes about one in 20 U.S. deaths. He says heavy metals in coal are a big part of that.

"Trace levels of mercury, trace levels of arsenic, chromium, lead and lots of other toxic metals," says Pew. "And when you burn the coal you just move the lead and the mercury and the arsenic out of the coal and into the smoke."

The mercury standards will be the first time some of these limits will apply to existing power plants. They have applied to newly built power stations for some time. Pew says as the legal fight ground on, many power companies put in scrubbers and bag houses that brought their emissions into compliance. Pew says over time, many of them stopped fighting the regulations.

"The more responsible power plants have put the scrubbers on, and one reason that much of the power industry simply isn't opposing these standards is they've already taken the steps they need to take to comply," Pew says.

Among other things, opponents of the rules argued the EPA followed the wrong process when determining how much the regulations would cost the industry. The National Mining Association and other coal industry allies asked that the rules be thrown out. Last week the D.C. Court of Appeals refused.


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The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments this week about the popular abortion pill Mifepristone and will weigh in on whether the U.S. Food and Drug Administration was correct in how it can be dosed and prescribed. (Ascannio/Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

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Missouri residents are worried about future access to birth control. The latest survey from The Right Time, an initiative based in Missouri…


Social Issues

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Wisconsin children from low-income families are now on track to get nutritious foods over the summer. Federal officials have approved the Badger …

Social Issues

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Almost 2,900 people are unsheltered on any given night in the Beehive State. Gov. Spencer Cox is celebrating signing nine bills he says are geared …


The U.S. teaching workforce remains primarily white while the percentage of Black teachers has declined. However, the percentage of Asian and Latinx teachers is rising.(WavebreakMediaMicro/Adobestock)

Social Issues

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Education advocates are calling on lawmakers to increase funding for programs to combat the teacher shortage. Around 37% of schools nationwide …

Environment

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New York's Legislature is considering a bill to get clean-energy projects connected to the grid faster. It's called the RAPID Act, for "Renewable …

Social Issues

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Earlier this month, a new Arizona Public Service rate hike went into effect and one senior advocacy group said those on a fixed income may struggle …

Social Issues

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Michigan recently implemented a significant juvenile justice reform package following recommendations from a task force made up of prosecutors…

 

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