Appeals court leaves EPA mercury pollution rule in effect

Source: AP

By SAM HANANEL

WASHINGTON (AP) — An appeals court has agreed to leave intact a federal rule targeting mercury pollution while government officials decide how to account for its costs.

The ruling Tuesday is a win for the Obama administration, which is working to quickly fix legal problems with the rule and reissue it by April 15.

The Supreme Court ruled in a 5-4 decision in June that the Environmental Protection Agency should have considered the costs and benefits of its plan before deciding to impose limits on mercury and other hazardous air pollutants. But the justices let the rule stay in effect and returned it to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to decide how a cost-benefits analysis should be conducted.

Twenty-one states and several industry groups had asked the court to halt the plan. They argued that power plants and their customers should not have to bear the hefty costs of installing and operating equipment to remove the pollutants while the legal underpinnings of the rule remain in doubt.

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