Thursday
Jul092009
Senate, Experts Discuss Ways To Regulate Toxic Emissions
Thursday, July 9, 2009 at 5:50PM
By Annie Berman - Talk Radio News Service
At a hearing Thursday, the Senate Subcommittee on Clean Air and Nuclear Safety discussed the most cost-effective way for Congress to regulate toxic emissions of sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxide (NOx) and mercury.
“We need Congress to develop a comprehensive three-pollutant bill that provides protective and reasonably attainable reductions of SO2 and NOx emissions, incorporates the regulation of mercury and other hazardous air pollutants,” said Randall R. LaBauve, Vice President of Environmental Services for the Florida Power & Light Company, who testified at the hearing.
A “cap and trade” policy continues to be a controversial issue regarding the regulation of toxic emissions. Though almost all of the witnesses at the hearing were in favor of a cap and trade policy, Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) was clearly against it.
“We’ve had testimony before this committee by Oak Ridge scientists, that cap and trade was a very inefficient way to deal with fuel because it raises the price, that’s for sure, but it doesn’t reduce the carbon. It only raises the price by 10 or 20 cents, but that’s not enough to change behavior,” said Alexander.
John B. Stephenson, Director of Natural Resources and Environment at the United States Government Accountability Office was one of several at the hearing who recommended using sorbent injections to reduce mercury emissions. Sorbent injections function essentially like a filtering system to remove mercury from releasing into the air.
“When the results of 50 tests of sorbent injection systems at power plants [were conducted]…mercury reductions of at least 90 percent [had] been achieved,” said Stephenson.
Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) also shared some alarming statistics regarding toxic pollutants in an attempt to demonstrate the urgency of this issue.
“More than 24,000 Americans die a year from sulfur dioxide emissions alone. Unfortunately, many of our fellow Americans are exposed to these pollutants every day. Six out of 10 Americans – more than 186 million people – live in areas where air pollution levels endanger lives.”
At a hearing Thursday, the Senate Subcommittee on Clean Air and Nuclear Safety discussed the most cost-effective way for Congress to regulate toxic emissions of sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxide (NOx) and mercury.
“We need Congress to develop a comprehensive three-pollutant bill that provides protective and reasonably attainable reductions of SO2 and NOx emissions, incorporates the regulation of mercury and other hazardous air pollutants,” said Randall R. LaBauve, Vice President of Environmental Services for the Florida Power & Light Company, who testified at the hearing.
A “cap and trade” policy continues to be a controversial issue regarding the regulation of toxic emissions. Though almost all of the witnesses at the hearing were in favor of a cap and trade policy, Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) was clearly against it.
“We’ve had testimony before this committee by Oak Ridge scientists, that cap and trade was a very inefficient way to deal with fuel because it raises the price, that’s for sure, but it doesn’t reduce the carbon. It only raises the price by 10 or 20 cents, but that’s not enough to change behavior,” said Alexander.
John B. Stephenson, Director of Natural Resources and Environment at the United States Government Accountability Office was one of several at the hearing who recommended using sorbent injections to reduce mercury emissions. Sorbent injections function essentially like a filtering system to remove mercury from releasing into the air.
“When the results of 50 tests of sorbent injection systems at power plants [were conducted]…mercury reductions of at least 90 percent [had] been achieved,” said Stephenson.
Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) also shared some alarming statistics regarding toxic pollutants in an attempt to demonstrate the urgency of this issue.
“More than 24,000 Americans die a year from sulfur dioxide emissions alone. Unfortunately, many of our fellow Americans are exposed to these pollutants every day. Six out of 10 Americans – more than 186 million people – live in areas where air pollution levels endanger lives.”
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