Akron Beacon Journal...
New federal pollution rules will cost Ohio power companies billions  
December 23, 2011 

Akron’s FirstEnergy Corp. and Columbus-based American Electric Power might shut down old, small and dirty coal-fired power plants or be forced to install new, costly anti-pollution equipment to comply with new limits on mercury, heavy metals and air toxics announced Wednesday by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. 

FirstEnergy is facing $2 billion to $3 billion in costs to comply with the new rules, the company said. 

The EPA estimated the new rules could raise electric bills for residential customers by $3 to $4 a month. But Ohio, with its deregulation rules, is different than many other states and utilities like FirstEnergy cannot directly recoup such costs from its customers here. 

It will be months before FirstEnergy will be able to say if any small power plants might be shut down or whether scrubbers, fabric filters and other anti-pollution equipment might be needed at individual boilers and plants, said Ray Evans, FirstEnergy’s executive director, environmental. 

“It’s going to be a challenge, especially the timing,” he said. 

FirstEnergy is still analyzing the 1,100-page document to fully determine its ramifications, Evans said. 

It might require additional improvements at the company’s W.H. Sammis Power Plant on the Ohio River at Stratton in Jefferson County, where FirstEnergy has spent $1.8 billion to install scrubbers and other anti-pollution equipment, company spokesman Mark Durbin said. That project was completed in late 2010. 

The company’s older and smaller plants are at risk of being shut down, Durbin said. 

The utility has 16 coal-fired plants in Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Maryland. Coal produces about two thirds of the utility’s power. 

Columbus-based American Electric Power has said it will need to spend $8 billion and close all or part of 11 coal-fired plants, eliminating 600 jobs. 

Early casualties are the Muskingum River Power Plant at Beverly in Washington County with its 160 workers, the company said. Parts of two other Ohio plants, in Lockbourne and Conesville, also will be shut down. 

The new rules, proposed 20 years ago, would be the first federal mercury limits to go into effect, if this measure survives expected legal challenges. A 2003 federal mercury rule was approved, but it was challenged in court and never went into effect. 

EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, in a teleconference, called the new rules “a giant victory for public health, especially the health of our children.” 

She hailed the rules as the “biggest clean-air action yet” by the Barack Obama administration. 

Mixed reactions 

Environmentalists praised and industry officials blasted the new rules. 

“It’s a long-overdue rule, long overdue,” said Joan Picone, a clean-air activist from Akron. “We’re excited ... and extremely supportive of the new rule because it will improve health and the quality of life of pregnant women and infants.” 

The National Association of Manufacturers called the new rules “one of the most costly regulations that will do more damage to our economy and job growth,” President and CEO Jay Timmons said in a statement. 

He accused the EPA of being overly aggressive and said the new rules would hurt American manufacturing and threaten the reliability of electric supplies. 

The measure will cost $130 billion, destroy 183,000 jobs per year and boost energy prices by $170 billion, according to figures from the American Coalition for Clean Coal Energy. 

Critics called the federal rules the most expensive ever written for power plants and the most expensive order the Obama administration has implemented. 

An analysis by the Associated Press indicates that 32 power plants in a dozen states — mostly the oldest and dirtiest — will be forced to close and an additional 36 might have to close. Those plants power about 22 million households. 

The United States would lose about 8 percent of its coal-fired electricity. Some utilities have predicted bills will be 7 to 15 percent higher. 

The deadline to comply is Dec. 31, 2015, although a one-year extension is possible. 

Any added costs are far outweighed by the health benefits, the EPA said. 

The new limits are projected to prevent 11,000 premature deaths and 4,700 heart attacks a year, Jackson said. 

Her agency said the new rule would reduce childhood asthma cases by 130,000 and acute bronchitis in children by 6,300 annually. It also would eliminate 5,700 hospital visits and prevent 540,000 missed days of work or school. 

Mercury limits slashed 

The new limits, first outlined in the spring, will reduce mercury emissions by 91 percent, Jackson said. 

The EPA adopted three separate pollution limits: for the neurotoxin mercury, for acid gases and for particulate matter, which will reduce levels of toxic heavy metals like chromium, selenium and cadmium. 

Mercury can impair neurological development in fetuses, infants and children. 

Airborne mercury falls to the ground with rain and snow. It accumulates in fish in rivers and lakes. Mercury advisories are in place for many bodies of water due to mercury pollution. 

Power plants are responsible for 50 percent of mercury emissions, 50 percent of acid gases and 25 percent of arsenic, chromium, nickle, selenium and cyanide emissions, the EPA said. 

The rules affect 1,100 coal-fired plants across the country, 40 percent of which do not have advanced pollution controls. 

The EPA estimated that 44 percent of the plants will be required to add new anti-pollution equipment. 

Ohio ranked No. 2 for mercury admissions in 2010 in the United States with 4,218 pounds, behind Texas and its 11,127 pounds. Two-thirds of those totals come from utility power plants. 

American Electric Power’s Gen. James Gavin Power Plant in Meigs County was the No. 1 Ohio emitter with 829 pounds of mercury. FirstEnergy’s Sammis Plant was second with 424 pounds, according to self-reported data the federal EPA compiles. 

The proposal on mercury limits resulted in 900,000 comments being submitted to the EPA. It was the subject of three heated public hearings. 

The agency signed the plan late Friday to comply with a court-imposed deadline, but postponed making a public announcement until Wednesday. 

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