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New Hampshire To Clean Up "Dirtiest Power Plant"
CONCORD, N.H. (AP) _ The Conservation Law Foundation says it will sue ``New Hampshire's
dirtiest power plant' and one in Massachusetts to enforce federally mandated
mercury pollution controls.
The group said Merrimack Station in Bow, a coal-fired power plant operated
by Public Service Company of New Hampshire, annually spews more than 120 pounds
of mercury into the surrounding air and water bodies, including the Merrimack
River.
The foundation also said in a statement Thursday it was aiming a federal
lawsuit against the coal- and oil-powered Brayton Point Station plant in
Somerset, Mass.,
``a major source of mercury contamination to the air and water bodies of
Rhode Island and Massachusetts.'
``Enforcing the federally mandated requirement that Merrimack Station slash
these toxic emissions will set an important precedent for enforcing these
requirements
across the country,' said Brad Kuster, a CLF staff lawyer.
Phil Warburg, the group's president, said that that as recently as 2001,
the Environmental Protection Agency ``was on track to produce a strong
mercury rule,
but those efforts were shut down by the Bush Administration.
``With this suit, we are bypassing the EPA, and instead seek a court
order declaring that state air regulators must now enforce the Clean
Air Act's
mandate to reduce
mercury emissions and protect public health,' he said.
`Technologies to control mercury emissions are feasible and affordable
and a long-overdue,' said Nancy Girard, director of the foundation's
New Hampshire
office. ``It is now time to step in where the EPA has failed, and
start enforcing the Clean Air Act.'
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