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other air toxics remain unquantified due to data limitation.
On the cost side, new information suggests that the
EPA's original cost-estimate for MATS of $9.6 billion is
much higher than the actual cost due to declines in natu-
ral gas prices and lower than expected control equipment
and renewable energy costs28. Yet, even with the original
overestimate, the EPA projected that MATS would increase
the monthly electric bill of the average American household
by only $2.71 (or 0.3 cents per kilowatt-hour). This value
is well within the price fluctuation consumers experienced
between 2000 and 2011.
The Bottom Line
The science is clear, the health impacts of U.S. mercury
emissions in the U.S. are large and disproportionately affect
children and other vulnerable populations. Mercury emis-
sion standards in the U.S. have markedly reduced mercury
in the environment and improved public health. The mercu-
ry-related benefits of MATS are much larger than previously
estimated, the actual costs appear to be substantially lower
than projected by the EPA, and the total monetized benefits
across all pollutants far outweigh the costs of the standards.
Sources HERE.
