The Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS) rule has been a policy and regulatory ping-pong match for over 20 years. Obscured in the regulatory back and forth is a tremendous environmental success story. Yet the regulatory ping-pong match continues. The latest round is that the current Administration’s EPA reaffirmed an Obama Administration legal finding that regulating power plants for mercury is appropriate and necessary.
EPA Clean Air Act
Those of us who are non-millennials may remember back to the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s when the hottest environmental issue was acid rain. In fact, acid rain generated as much controversy and international conflicts as the big environmental issue of today, climate change, with scientists, policymakers, and politicians engaging in heated battles over this issue.