Note: This President’s Message focuses on
environmental regulations currently proposed to address
mercury emissions in Illinois. It also includes an
enlightening illustration from IERG’s Executive Director D.K.
Hirner on how business and government can work together to
produce sound environmental rules, as IERG and IEPA did
regarding air permitting, and finally, information on what you
can do about the mercury emissions proposal from our
Government Affairs VP Todd Maisch.
Illinois
Needs an Environment for Jobs and Growth, Not Untried, Costly
Environmental Rules
On June 12, The Illinois
Pollution Control Board will open hearings on a proposal to
change limits on mercury emissions from coal-fired power
plants in Illinois. The proposal would replace federal
regulations with a far stricter Illinois-only standard. The
Pollution Control Board should reject this proposal because it
fails the “cost/benefit” test: it would cost Illinois’ economy
more than it would benefit our state’s environment. This
proposal overstates what currently proven technology could be
reasonably expected to achieve.
Although some may not
believe it, the Illinois energy industry supports tough new
federal regulations on mercury emissions and is working
diligently to meet those rules. Power generator operators are
field-testing mercury control technologies to determine if
they may be commercially viable. Right now, proven technology
is not readily available.
Going further than federal
standards -- as proposed by the Illinois Environmental
Protection Agency -- would put jobs at risk, jeopardize our
state’s electricity supply and discourage pending initiatives
to invest in coal and energy production without providing any
significant public health benefit beyond what the federal rule
will achieve.
The USEPA adopted the world’s first
mercury control regulations last year, after years of
scientific analysis, hearings and public comment. The federal
regulations now in effect will amount to an 80 percent
reduction in mercury emissions from Illinois plants over the
next dozen years.
The proposed Illinois rule would
dictate accelerated emissions reductions before technology
even exists to help power producers meet those targets. Trying
to reach a 90 percent mercury reduction by 2009 has a major
consequence: the imposition of capital and operating costs on
Illinois power producers that competitors in nearby states
would not incur. They also sell electricity in the regional
wholesale market.
Requiring Illinois power producers
to make huge investments on a tighter schedule challenges the
economic viability of one of the state’s fundamental
industries. Some who could not bear financial burdens of
meeting the proposed Illinois standard would likely face
having to shut down units rather than sustain operating
losses.
It is alarming that at a time when energy
production is a national priority and the state is poised to
help lead the nation toward energy self-sufficiency, Illinois
would seek to impose burdens and discourage investments.
Illinois ought to be going out of its way to help, not harm,
the state’s energy resources and energy production industries.
What is the supposed benefit for these costs? Most of
the mercury that gets into the fish we eat is the result of
emissions from energy sources in other countries or from
natural mercury sources.
All U.S. coal plants combined
produce only 1 percent of total global airborne emissions.
U.N. studies show 71 percent of global mercury emissions come
from Asia and Africa. Nearly 40 percent of global mercury
emissions come from natural sources such as oceans, volcanoes
and forest fires.
A reasonable analysis of available
data and science can only lead to the conclusion that
virtually all mercury in Illinois fish likely comes from
outside the state.
Of course it is important to reduce
mercury emissions from all sources, including power plants.
However, regulations should proportionately address real
risks.
When it comes to fish stories, the claim that
the proposed Illinois mercury rule will do much of anything
beyond the federal rule to improve public health is truly a
whopper.
Teamwork Can Produce Meaningful
Environmental Reform
D.K. Hirner
Rulemakings before the Illinois Pollution Control
Board need not be a battle between state government and
business and industry. Resulting rules need not impose
additional burdens that increase the cost of doing business.
In fact, the Illinois EPA and the Illinois Environmental
Regulatory Group (IERG), an affiliate of the Illinois Chamber,
recently worked together on a rulemaking that will allow a
large number of facilities exemptions from previously required
air permits for insignificant (and in many cases beneficial)
projects. These exemptions will not decrease our ability to
protect the environment in any way and, in fact, will afford
industry the resources needed to concentrate on environmental
programs that are more meaningful.
How this exemption
came about is a case study of how a respected and influential
association can effect positive change. IERG, with the
Illinois Chamber, acted on the long-held belief that some
components of Illinois’ air permitting system were overkill.
IERG examined data on air permits issued by Illinois
EPA and found that a substantial number of them resulted in
emission increases of less than ½ ton per year, no emissions
increases at all, or actual decreases in emissions. In 2001,
for example, IERG examined some 1400 permits. Of those, 850
covered emissions increases of less than ½ ton per year, and
800 of those 850 were for facilities with no increase or
actual decreases in emissions.
This raised several
questions: why is it necessary to obtain an air permit for
changes at a facility that result in minimal or no increase in
emissions? Why is a permit necessary to install or replace air
pollution control equipment that, by its very nature, will
reduce emissions, particularly given the costs associated with
filing applications, lost time waiting for the permit to be
issued, and paying a minimum $500 fee? Eliminating the $500
filing fee on just those 850 permit applications noted above
would save $425,000.
IERG began to convince the
Illinois EPA that requiring permits for changes adding
virtually no air pollution is not the best use of industry’s
or state government’s time and resources. Illinois EPA
acknowledged IERG's input, and we applaud their willingness to
change. There are larger and more important environmental
matters both organizations can focus on, and three years of
cooperative effort achieved beneficial results. (Check out 35
Ill. Admin. Code 201.146.)
IERG Can Benefit Your
Team, Too
This case study demonstrates how IERG
and the Illinois Chamber function on behalf of business with
state government. IERG, working on behalf of its Member
Companies and the Chamber, is successful because of its
knowledge and drive to tackle the hard issues for business and
industry. You can be confident IERG will exhibit the same
drive on the current mercury proposals and any future
environmental rulemakings that affect the regulated community.
If your company is subject to environmental
regulations, you will definitely get your money’s worth by
joining IERG: annual dues are $6250. Contact IERG at
217-523-4942 or visit www.ierg.org.
Help Preserve
Reliable Electric Power
Todd Maisch
Governor Blagojevich’s arbitrary decision to force
untenable mercury emission reductions on Illinois power plants
puts access to reliable electric power at risk. Join the
Illinois Chamber in opposing the Governor’s plan and
supporting the tough, but achievable, reductions already
required by the federal government. Click here
to send your message to the key legislators who will
decide this issue and the future of electric power in
Illinois. |
