Ohio utilities with coal-burning power plants huddled Thursday with two state agencies to discuss how new federal rules on mercury and other pollutants will be implemented statewide.
Involved were Akron’s FirstEnergy Corp., Columbus-based American Electric Power, Duke Energy in Cincinnati and Dayton Power and Light. Also at the table were the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio and the U.S. EPA.
The hourlong meeting was intended “to begin a conversation with the utilities” and explain that the state can approve one-year extensions for utilities, Ohio EPA spokeswoman Heidi Griesmer said.
Her agency won’t be granting sweeping extensions, however, and each request must be justified, she said.
“We will review each request for more time and grant extra time to companies that have legitimately documented the need,” state EPA Director Scott J. Nally said in a statement.
The parties are working together “to ensure that these companies have the time needed to properly install new pollution controls,” he said.
On April 16, the federal EPA finalized the Mercury and Air Toxic Standards rule that requires the installation of maximum achievable control technology to reduce mercury, heavy metals and air toxics from coal-burning power plants.
Utilities must comply by April 16, 2015, or can seek — and Ohio can grant — an extra year to install new controls.
Many utilities, including FirstEnergy, said they are closing small, old and dirty coal-burning power plants because that makes more economic sense than installing new and costly anti-pollution equipment like scrubbers. Estimates are that 8 percent of American electric generation will be cut.
FirstEnergy has said it would need $2 billion to $3 billion to comply with the new rules. The company declined to comment Thursday.
The utility has 16 coal-fired plants in Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Maryland. Coal produces about two-thirds of the utility’s power.
The federal EPA estimated the new rules could raise electric bills for residential customers by $3 to $4 a month. But Ohio, with its deregulation rules, is different than many other states, and utilities like FirstEnergy cannot directly recoup such costs from its customers here.
Critics called the federal rules the most expensive ever written for power plants and the most expensive order the Obama administration has implemented.
The EPA has said health benefits far outweigh any added costs.
The EPA adopted three separate pollution limits: for the neurotoxin mercury, for acid gases and for particulate matter, which will reduce levels of toxic heavy metals like chromium, selenium and cadmium.
The new limits will reduce mercury emissions by 91 percent, the agency said.
Power plants are responsible for 50 percent of total mercury emissions, 50 percent of acid gases and 25 percent of arsenic, chromium, nickle, selenium and cyanide emissions, the EPA said.
Bob Downing can be reached at 330-996-3745 or bdowning@thebeaconjournal.com.