Wednesday, February 21, 2007

Temperature's up, but mercury soon to drop

That is, Pennsylvania's new restrictions on mercury emissions (more stringent than federal guidelines) went into effect this past weekend, giving coal-burning power plants three years to find ways to reduce their mercury output by 80% (and then five years to get them down even further). Industry insiders predict that the smallest plants will close in the face of new technology costs, and there is much other weeping and gnashing of teeth here. But it means millions of tons fewer of a lethal element getting dumped into our air and foodchain, so I suspect that most Pennsylvanians are celebrating.

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