EPA Probe of Mercury Regulation Launched

The Environmental Protection Agency’s inspector general launched an investigation this week into the way the agency developed its controversial proposal to regulate mercury emissions from power plants.

The inquiry follows a request from members of Congress last month who expressed concern that the agency failed to study a range of regulatory options for controlling mercury and relied on language provided by industry lobbyists.

“I expect the inspector general’s review will be comprehensive and will help us understand how and why this proposed rule came to look as it does,” said Sen. James M. Jeffords (I-Vt.), one of the members requesting the inquiry.

EPA spokeswoman Cynthia Bergman said she had no details about the scope or timing of Inspector General Nikki Tinsley’s investigation.

Bergman said EPA Administrator Mike Leavitt remains committed to studying options for controlling mercury before signing a final rule early next year.

Coal-fired power plants are the largest single U.S. source of mercury, a toxin that has drawn concern from public health experts and environmentalists.

The Los Angeles Times reported earlier this year that utility industry lobbyists had extraordinary access to the rule-making process though agency staff said they were instructed not to undertake customary scientific and economic studies.