Surprise! Maryland Talks With EPA On Limiting Mercury Produce No Results

[hatrack]

A meeting with top federal environmental officials that the Ehrlich administration hoped would lead to tighter controls on mercury air pollution has produced no changes, state and federal officials said. Aides to Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. had promoted a meeting with EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson as a more productive way to reduce pollution than joining a lawsuit against the Bush administration.

State Attorney General J. Joseph Curran Jr. disagreed, but was blocked by the governor from joining litigation filed by 12 other states to challenge the Bush administration's exemption of coal-fired power plants from strict mercury-emissions rules. Curran and his predecessor said such a denial by a governor hadn't happened in decades. The lack of measurable progress from the meeting with EPA officials in Washington last month convinced some activists that talks were a weak alternative.

Aides to Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. had promoted a meeting with EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson as a more productive way to reduce pollution than joining a lawsuit against the Bush administration.

EDIT

Ehrlich, a Republican and Bush ally, rejected Democrat Curran's request to sue the federal government to overturn the exemption for older plants. The governor's spokesman said at the time that a meeting with the EPA's top official, Johnson, would be more effective than a lawsuit, in part because Johnson is from Maryland and would likely be sympathetic to the state's position. But Johnson didn't attend the June 17 meeting at EPA headquarters in Washington because Ehrlich wasn't there, instead sending representatives. Officials disclosed the outcome of the meeting last week. "Administrator Johnson would be happy to meet with Governor Ehrlich," said Eryn Witcher, spokeswoman for the federal agency. "But if it's his top aide, it's most appropriate to have the administration's top staff there. That's the normal protocol." Instead of a top-level meeting, Maryland Department of the Environment Secretary Kendl P. Philbrick and state air program director Tom Snyder met with Jeff Holmstead, the EPA's assistant administrator for air programs. Ehrlich didn't attend the meeting because he was confident his environmental department's staff could handle the task, Fawell said. No follow-up meeting has been scheduled, according to spokespeople for the EPA and the Maryland Department of the Environment. "Maybe another meeting will be necessary, maybe it won't be," Witcher said. "We are working to address Maryland's concerns."

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http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/bal-md.mercury25jul25,1,3741446.story?coll=bal-local-headlines&ctrack=1&cset=true

Good thing they didn't sue! This was much more effective!