St. Louis Beacon - New pollution rules will have major impact on Missouri, Illinois power plants

St. Louis Beacon - New pollution rules will have major impact on Missouri, Illinois power plants: "Landmark federal standards issued Wednesday to limit mercury and other toxic pollutants are likely to have a major impact on the coal-fired power plants in Missouri and Illinois — requiring extensive and expensive retrofitting, officials said.

"This rule will have some effect on virtually all of our units in Missouri and Illinois," said Mike Menne, vice president of environmental services for Ameren Corp. But he added that the utility "will not be closing its plants as a result of this rule" in Missouri.

Menne said in an interview that the new rule, known as the "utility MACT" standard, will have wide impact "because it requires controls for mercury and particulates and acid gases on virtually every unit in the country." In Missouri and Illinois, he said, "we are not in compliance with this particular rule at any of our facilities." The cost of compliance in Missouri is likely to exceed $200 million over three to five years, he said."

'via Blog this'