Report: Cutting mercury emissions 90 percent uncostly

INDIANAPOLIS -- Indiana's coal-fired power plants could dramatically cut the amount of mercury they spew into the air without imposing huge rate increases, a report by a national environmental group concludes.\nThe National Wildlife Federation's report said average residential rates would increase about $1.90 a month to help pay for the mercury-reducing technology.\n"Now, we're calling on federal and state leaders to get the job done by adopting protective mercury standards as required by current law," said Zoe Lipman, the group's program manager.\nThe federation's report found that by the end of the decade Indiana's coal power plants could cut mercury emissions by 90 percent if they added a process in which powdered carbon is injected into a boiler's flue gas.\nThe mercury sticks to the carbon, which is then captured by a fabric filter.\nCinergy spokeswoman Angeline Protogere said the company plans to test the method at its Floyd County plant but was not ready to use it companywide.\nThe report, released Wednesday, comes amid a state and national debate over how deeply utilities should be required to cut mercury emissions, which are unregulated.\nLast year, the Hoosier Environmental Council asked the state Air Pollution Control Board to require a 90 percent reduction by 2008. Utilities favor a more lenient Bush administration proposal to reduce emissions 70 percent by 2018.\nMore than 93 percent of Indiana's electricity is generated by coal. State utilities are among the top emitters of mercury, a naturally occurring metal that is toxic when released to the air, water and soil and can damage the brains of developing fetuses.\nIndiana ranks second in the nation in the number of warnings against eating fish caught in state waterways because of mercury contamination.\nThe Indiana Department of Environmental Management is leading a study into what level of control the state can afford and will report to the air board. But the board might not be able to require steep reductions.\n"Indiana is faced with a much worse mercury problem than the rest of the nation, which is going to require a larger solution," said Brian Wright, coal policy adviser at the Hoosier Environmental Council. "The laws established by the federal government are supposed to be bottom-line, minimum requirements for states. Do you really want to go with the minimum (protections) necessary?"\nIndustry officials said rate increases are being sought to pay for billions of dollars in equipment to control pollutants that contribute to smog. Those controls also will help reduce mercury emissions, they said.\n"We're not opposed to as much reduction as can be attained," said Stan Pinegar, executive director of the Indiana Energy Association, a utility trade group. "It's a matter of how it's done"