Secondary menu

DC Court of Appeals Rejects Industry Challenge to Mercury Rule

On December 9, 2011, the DC Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the Portland Cement Association's attempt to prevent the implementation of long overdue Clean Air Act standards to reduce cement plants' emissions of mercury and other pollutants.

For more than 10 years, Earthjustice representing Friends of Hudson and other groups fought first to force the EPA to write the standard and then intervened when the PCA sued to have it overturned by the courts. The Court of Appeals rejected the Association's claim that the regulations would impose an impossible financial and technical burden on the industry.

This decision is a very significant victory for clean air and public health in the Hudson Valley and around the country. The full text of the Earthjustice press release includes comments by FoH's Susan Falzon.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

December 9, 2011
 
Contact:
Jim Pew, Earthjustice, (202) 745-5214, jpew@earthjustice.org
Raviya Ismail, Earthjustice, (202) 745-5221, rismail@earthjustice.org
 
Court Rejects Attempt to Kill Cement Plant Rule
Important air protection will save between 900-2,500 lives
 
Washington, D.C. – Today the DC Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the Portland Cement Association’s attempt to kill Clean Air Act standards that will reduce cement plants’ emissions of mercury and other hazardous air pollutants by more than 90 percent and save between 900 and 2,500 American lives every year.
 
On behalf of its clients, Sierra Club, Desert Citizens Against Pollution, Downwinders At Risk, Friends of Hudson, Huron Environmental Activist League, and Montanans Against Toxic Burning, Earthjustice intervened to defend this important U.S. Environmental Protection Agency rule against the industry’s attack.
 
“With this decision concerned citizens, particularly those in host communities, can finally breathe a little easier,” said Susan Falzon of Friends of Hudson. “We have to remain steadfastly vigilant, be prepared for the long haul and committed to act whenever the environment and public health are threatened by corporate greed.”
 
“This ruling sends a critical message to polluters that their efforts to weaken or completely block important regulations will not be tolerated,” said Kelly Stryker of Stop Titan Action Network. “Hopefully, our congressional leaders will stop supporting legislation intended to threaten public health, taking this court ruling as a clear sign that public health is a fundamental right of all citizens and something we should all be fighting to protect, not dismantle.”
 
“For over a decade, the Portland Cement Association has used money and political clout to avoid controlling its emissions of mercury and other toxic pollution,” said Earthjustice attorney Jim Pew. “PCA’s lawsuit attacking these control requirements was part and parcel of that strategy. Going forward, we urge PCA and its members to put their resources toward controlling their toxic pollution rather than evading the law. And we ask our elected representatives to reject PCA’s efforts to obtain special exemptions from the law and to stand up for the badly needed and long overdue health protections that the EPA has put in place.”