Senators, Dems target mercury Petition to force vote on rules

PORTLAND – Maine’s two Republican senators gave life to an effort to overturn new federal rules for controlling mercury pollution when they joined Democrats on Wednesday.

Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins signed a petition that now has enough signatures to force a vote on the rules, which will help determine how much airborne mercury is allowed to drift into Maine in the years ahead.

The Maine senators and environmentalists contend that the Environmental Protection Agency was too lenient in setting standards.

“I’m very disappointed in the EPA rule,” said Collins, who signed the petition along with Snowe to force a full Senate vote. “It’s disturbing to me that EPA is proposing such a weak rule.”

Representatives of the coal-burning power plants that face the regulations say opponents are trying to derail the country’s first standards for mercury.

“It proves the old adage that no good deed towards pollution control goes unpunished,” said Frank Maisano, an attorney representing the industry.

The Senate effort could be largely symbolic because even advocates acknowledge it could be opposed in the House and by President Bush.

But supporters argue that the vote will put the Senate on record in the contentious debate on air pollution and could pave the way for success sometime in the future.

“At least we’ll … shine a spotlight on the EPA,” Collins said.

Enactment of the regulation is pending after it became final March 15 and was published in the Federal Register. It aims to reduce mercury emissions about 70 percent by 2018, from about 48 tons per year to 15 tons.

The strategy for reaching the goal includes a cap-and-trade system that allows cleaner plants to offset pollution from dirtier plants.

The complaint from Maine officials and environmental groups is that the Clinton administration in its waning days proposed stricter limits under a different strategy, called maximum achievable control technology.

Mainers worry about air pollution because an estimated 80 percent of mercury pollution floats into the state from Midwest power plants.