Air Pollution Emission Control: Existing Technologies and Mercury Cobenefits (CRS Report for Congress)
| Release Date |
Sept. 15, 2004 |
| Report Number |
RS21936 |
| Report Type |
Report |
| Authors |
Dana A. Shea, Resources, Science, and Industry Division |
| Source Agency |
Congressional Research Service |
Summary:
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulates the amount of pollution emitted into the
atmosphere by stationary combustion sources. To meet these regulations, stationary sources use
various techniques to reduce air pollutant emissions, including installing post-combustion emission
control technologies. Some post-combustion technologies reduce the emissions of other pollutants
besides the one for which they are designed. These concomitant reductions are called cobenefits.
The EPA has proposed regulating mercury emissions from coal-fired electric power plants by relying
on the results that these post-combustion emission control technologies achieve through cobenefits.
The appropriateness of using cobenefits to set emission limits, the reproducibility and reliability of
cobenefits, and the likelihood that new technologies specifically designed to reduce mercury
emission will be commercially available in the near future are issues of congressional interest. This
report will not be updated.
