The United States Supreme Court rejected a motion filed by the Environmental Protection Agency to reinstate the Clean Air Mercury Rule.

The court made its decision Monday, opting to reject the mercury-control regulation that environmentalists say would have had “devastating impacts on the fragile ecosystems of the Adirondacks.”

The Adirondack Mountain Club made its first attempt at dissolving the legislation in February of 2008, when the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia shot down the cap-and-trade program that allowed industries to purchase carbon credits – a program that essentially allowed corporations to pollute for a fee without government oversight.

The Clean Air Mercury Rule ultimately resulted in mercurial hot spots throughout the Adirondacks and Catskill Mountains. According to the Adirondack Mountain Club, at least two studies have shown the direct relationship between coal-fired power plants and mercury hot spots in upstate New York.

The appeals court handling the February 2008 case decided that the EPA’s plan contradicted the language of the federal government’s Clean Air Act. That legislation requires power plants to install pollution-preventing technology to reduce mercury emissions by as much as 90 percent.

But the Bush administration, joined by the utility industry, persisted and filed an appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court -- an appeal later withdrawn by President Obama. The utility industry persisted, leading up to Monday’s decision to uphold the court of appeals ruling.

Neil Woodworth, executive director for the Adirondack Mountain Club, said that his organization is relieved that the court has put “the final nail in the coffin.”

“This regulation left the Adirondacks vulnerable to continued mercury contamination,” Woodworth said. “96 percent of the lakes in the Adirondack region exceed the recommended EPA action level for mercury in fish.”

The EPA has also recommended that children and childbearing women in the Catskill region avoid consuming fish, Woodworth said.

According to Woodworth, the court’s decision is the final chapter of a long and tedious legal battle dating back to January 2007.  Woodworth served as the Adirondack Mountain Club’s chief counsel during the course of the two-year legal proceedings.

The next step, according to Woodworth, requires the EPA to raise awareness of the mercury regulations, to publish the guidelines for reducing emissions, and to promote the use of pollution controls for power plants.

Woodworth noted that if the court had not upheld the appeal, “the worst polluters in the region could continue to release mercury up their smokestacks,” thus perpetuating mercury hot spots in the Adirondacks.

The Adirondack Mountains are downwind from numerous coal-burning power plants. In 2007, researchers found that nearly 65 percent of mercury deposits in the Northeast can be linked to U.S. coal plants.

Mercury puts the natural habitat of the Adirondacks at risk and is responsible for die-offs in fish and bird populations. 

Return to Today's News Headlines