By Derf Johnson
Earlier this year, the Biden Administration announced a new standard for coal plants under the Mercury and Air Toxics Standard (MATS) that will dramatically reduce the pollution emanating from the Colstrip coal-fired power plant, as well as other plants across the country. With the implementation of the rule, the owners of the Colstrip plant will have to install modern-industry standard pollution controls on the plant that will cost them money. However, instead of recognizing the enormous environmental and public health benefits, the owners of the Colstrip plant joined a coalition of industry groups across the country and challenged the new regulation on a number of grounds in federal court. They also requested that the U.S. Supreme Court place a “pause” on the rule so that they don’t have to comply with it until the litigation is fully resolved. MEIC intervened in the litigation thanks to the attorneys at Earthjustice. We argued that NorthWestern created its own dilemma by failing to install pollution controls decades ago when most other plants did so.
In a shocking ruling — given the makeup of the court — the U.S. Supreme Court rejected NorthWestern’s hail-mary request, which means that, for the time being, the Colstrip plant needs to start gearing up to reduce its air pollution under the new safeguards. Notably, the Colstrip plant is currently the most polluting plant in the nation, and the owners have dragged their feet when it comes to installing and operating pollution control technology, technology that nearly every other coal-fired power plant has installed. Colstrip Unit 4 releases the highest rate of particulate emissions into the air compared to other coal-fired units in the country. What’s more, Colstrip Unit 3 also releases a significant amount of particulate emissions, ranking third highest in the nation. These particulate emissions contain arsenic, lead, and many other hazardous substances, most of which are dangerous to humans at any level of exposure.
Everyone knows that coal is a dirty way to produce energy. It fouls the air we breathe with heavy metals and other toxins, pollutes our water with coal mining and the coal ash waste streams, and is the most polluting source of energy for our climate. Emissions into our air include mercury and other toxins, such as lead, selenium, arsenic, chromium, hydrogen chloride, cobalt, nickel, hydrogen cyanide, beryllium, and cadmium. A recent study in the journal Science found that exposure to particulate matter from coal-fired power plants was associated with a mortality risk that is 2.1 times greater than exposure to particulate from other sources. Thankfully, the U.S. Clean Air Act regulates emissions from super polluters such as coal plants, and also requires that air quality standards be regularly revised in order to continue reducing pollution from these facilities.
Check out MEIC’s animated video about MATS on our YouTube channel.
Data demonstrates that implementation of the MATS rule will decrease toxic particulate pollution from the plant by 890 tons each year, a huge public health benefit and will be far more impactful than NorthWestern’s CEO would have you believe.
The Supreme Court’s rejection of NorthWestern’s attempt to evade air quality safeguards is truly a victory for our right to breathe clean air. However, the litigation is certainly not over, and we suspect a more intense fight over these standards with the incoming Trump Administration. For today, we can celebrate, and plan for a bigger fight ahead.
This article was published in the December 2024 issue of Down To Earth.
