Jon Kyl: “S.J. Res. 37 is very important. If passed, this resolution would overturn one of the most costly and unnecessary…”

“S.J. Res. 37 is very important. If passed, this resolution would overturn one of the most costly and unnecessary regulations ever adopted by the EPA. Unless we in Congress act, that regulation, Utility MACT, would establish the first ever ``maximum achievable control technology''--or MACT--standards for ``hazardous air pollutant''--or HAP--emissions from powerplants. The Clean Air Act only allows the EPA to set MACT standards for HAP emissions if it can establish a hazard to public health that would make such regulatory action ``appropriate and necessary.'' In December 2000, just as a new administration was set to take office, the Clinton EPA, under great pressure from special interests, promulgated a Utility MACT rule based on public health concerns about mercury. The data simply do not support that regulation. First of all, mercury does not pose health risks via inhalation, but rather only after entering water bodies and accumulating as methylmercury in the aquatic food chain. For humans, the primary route of mercury exposure is through eating fish. Accordingly, the EPA itself has acknowledged uncertainties about the extent of public health risks that can be attributed to electric utility mercury emissions, and it admits that ``there is no quantification of how much of the methylmercury in fish consumed by the U.S. population is due to electricity emissions.…”