The EPA issued the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS), the first national standards to protect American families from power plant emissions of mercury and toxic air pollution like arsenic, acid gas, nickel, and cyanide. The standards will slash emissions of these dangerous pollutants through the application of widely available, proven pollution controls that are already in use at more than half of the nation’s coal-fired power plants.

Power plants are the largest remaining source of several toxic air pollutants and are responsible for half of the mercury and over 75 percent of the acid gas emissions in the United States. Mercury has been shown to harm the nervous systems of children exposed in the womb, impairing learning and early development; other pollutants that will be reduced by these standards can cause cancer, premature death, heart disease, and asthma.

Benefits that far outweigh the costs

EPA estimates that the new safeguards will prevent as many as 11,000 premature deaths and 4,700 heart attacks a year.

The EPA also estimates that manufacturing, engineering, installing and maintaining the pollution controls to meet these standards will provide employment for thousands, potentially including 46,000 short-term construction jobs and 8,000 long-term utility jobs.

The standards also ensure that public health and economic benefits far outweigh costs of implementation:  for every dollar spent to reduce pollution from power plants, it is estimated that the American public will see up to $9 in health benefits.

For more information on the standards consult EPA´s site