American Power Plants to Comply with Stricter Rules

The Environmental Protection Agency EPA has recently announced it is going to support a stricter set of regulations aiming to control the activity of some of the most polluting US power plants that develop oil and coal-burning operations.

The anticipated changes are expected by the end of this week, believed to curb the considerable amount of toxic air pollution, NPR informs.

The new legal framework will compel owners of important power plants to reconsider their attitude and closely monitor its mercury pollution and other kind of emissions.

Moreover, major companies  will have to prove a sharp mercury decline of up to 90% for their exhaust, within the next three years. EPA insists on the fact that the health of American citizens depends on fast, effective measures to increase air, water and soil quality.

Although such a measure is much-needed, authorized voices declare that the deadline is not far away to guarantee the success of new regulations.

Officials from Southern Company that provides energy for 4 million households say it is impossible to implement these improvements within the next three years, because they require a significant investment.

They state that a timeline of 6 years is a much more reasonable option. If the company were to comply with the announced changes, the energy price would go through the roof.

Although efficient ways of curbing mercury pollution were announced and backed in the past, such projects met the resistance of major players pulling the strings in this sector.

The improvements are welcomed to restore the balance of a population obviously affected by these risk factors even in the 1990. Pediatrician Lynn Goldman is fully aware of this fact, since she had to deal with patients living near a contaminated lake.

She reveals that the food often follows a dangerous trajectory: from power plants to our plates.

After monitoring mercury concentration, she was shocked to notice that kids were displaying levels ten times higher than what is considered risk-free; therefore, members of the local community had to stop eating fish coming from the contaminated waters.