Group says bill would let 5 Nevada power plants spew mercury

[NVMojo]

Watch out, neighbors in Arizona, Utah, California, Idaho, Oregon!

LAS VEGAS (AP) - A Bush administration proposal for reducing mercury emissions would give five Nevada coal-fired electricity generation plants a free pass to spew the toxic metal into the air, an environmental group said.

A U.S. Public Interest Research Group official said Thursday that a loophole in the "clear skies" bill pending in Congress would exempt from regulation three units of a power plant near Las Vegas and two units of a generating station near Battle Mountain.

The plants collectively emit almost 64 pounds of airborne mercury each year, or 19 percent of Nevada's power plant mercury emissions, said Brad Johnson, U.S. PIRG Nevada organizer. He called the measure a "sweetheart deal for polluters."

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said in a statement that the provision criticized by PIRG wasn't part of the original "clear skies" bill, but was inserted during congressional deliberations, which are ongoing.

more...

http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/nevada/2005/apr/07/040710334.html

[rodeodance]

1. 441 of 1,120 plants could be EXEMPT -under this "Clear Skies"

What a bunch of capola!!

A U.S. PIRG study titled "The Fine Print," used EPA data from 1999 to calculate that, nationally, the loophole could exempt 441 of 1,120 mercury-emitting power plant units from regulation.....

[NVMojo]

2. You should see the color of the air around those plants near Battle Mtn...

disgusting ...and they are making a fortune off those old filthy plants, thats the part no one thinks about.