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The Republican-controlled Assembly Natural Resources Committee voted 7-6 after an all-day hearing to object to the rules unless the state Department of Natural Resources erases reduction goals for other pollutants and prepares a full-scale study of the rules’ economic impact.
The vote likely won’t stop the rules from becoming reality as they’re currently written, though.
DNR Secretary Pat Henderson said the agency won’t comply with the committee’s request. That would kick the regulations to the Joint Committee for Review of Administrative Rules.
That panel could ignore the rules, which would allow them to go into effect. It also could vote on them, but the committee is split 5-5 between Democrats and Republicans and any tie vote means the committee did nothing, which would put the rules into effect, too.
Sen. Bob Jauch, D-Poplar, co-chairman of the rules committee, said he’s ready to vote right now.
“The decision they (the natural resources committee) made is nothing more than political hocus pocus to pass this problem of poisoning our environment on to the next generation,” Jauch said. “Let’s get done with this and move on with protecting public health and public waters.”
The rules committee’s other chairman, Rep. Dan LeMahieu, R-Cascade, also sits on the natural resources committee but wasn’t present for the hearing or the vote. He didn’t return a message seeking comment.
Mercury, a byproduct of burning coal at power plants, can cause nerve damage and increase the risk of heart disease. It accumulates in fish, and the DNR has warned people for years to limit consumption of fish from any state lake, river or stream because of contamination.
The rules require utilities to cut mercury emissions by 90 percent by 2015. Utilities could extend that deadline to 2021 if they can achieve a 70 percent reduction in mercury reduction, an 85 percent reduction in sulfur dioxide and a 50 percent reduction in nitrogen oxide by 2015. Sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide contribute to smog and haze.
The DNR estimates utilities will have to spend $38 million to $91 million annually to comply, depending on whether they choose the cheaper multi-emission approach. The agency says that would amount to another $5 to $12 annually for the average household.
DNR Secretary Matt Frank told the committee utilities will save money by implementing reduction technology now, before it grows more expensive and EPA issues its own mercury standards. A federal court struck down EPA mercury standards earlier this year, but the agency is re-crafting them.
The DNR plan also will reduce respiratory diseases and cancer risks, saving money, Frank said.
The rules would protect Wisconsin’s $2.3 billion fishing industry, Frank said.
They also would help convince the EPA the state is tackling pollution and convince the federal agency to reverse a preliminary decision to declare six Wisconsin counties out of compliance with new air pollution standards. Such a designation would mean the areas would have to develop costly anti-pollution plans.
Scott Manley, environmental policy director for Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce, said a consultant estimated it would cost utilities hundreds of millions of dollars per power plant to reach the goals.
The committee’s chairman, Rep. Scott Gunderson, R-Waterford, said he wants to reduce mercury. But nitrogen oxide and sulfur dioxide should not be part of a mercury rule and the DNR should have followed the law and done a full economic impact study, he said.
Henderson said the DNR did both a health assessment and fiscal estimate on the rules.
