Connecticut Attorney General's Office
Press Release
Attorney General Announces U.S. Supreme Court Victory On Harmful Mercury Emissions
February 23, 2009
Blumenthal and 16 other states successfully overturned in federal court a cap-and-trade system that would have enabled utilities to buy, sell and trade the right to emit mercury pollution.
While acceptable for certain pollutants, a cap-and-trade system is particularly harmful with mercury because it would create dangerous "hot spots" of the deadly neurotoxin.
Today, the U.S. Supreme Court denied an appeal by a group of utilities, the Utility Air Regulatory Group, that sought to overturn a U.S. District Court ruling that vacated the federal cap-and-trade rules.
"This U.S. Supreme Court victory puts the final cap on an environmental and safety nightmare -- a cap-and-trade system that would have enabled the most profitable power plants to spew highly concentrated and deadly levels of mercury," Blumenthal said."
"A cap-and-trade mercury emissions system would enable power plants to pay to pollute -- allowing them to emit all the mercury that money could buy, regardless of the public health threat. Our coalition of states has finished the fight against this profitable and powerful group of pernicious polluters.
"Mercury is a deadly neurotoxin -- a known killer and crippler that particularly threatens pregnant women and children. A cap-and-trade system would have created concentrated hot spots of mercury and an unacceptable risk of illnesses, birth defects and other harm severe, lasting health harms.
"President Obama's U.S. Environmental Protection Agency -- which responsibly changed direction and abandoned former President Bush's appeal on the matter -- now must adopt stronger and safer mercury emissions regulations that put environmental and public safety over power plant profit."