FGD and DeNOx
NEWSLETTER       

January 2010
No. 381

Michigan to Require 90 Percent Mercury Removal

Michigan’s 19 coal-fired power plants will need to install technology to reduce mercury emissions by Jan. 1, 2015. The Michigan Dept. of Environmental Quality said that all coal-fired electric-generating units (EGUs) over 25 MW must meet a 90 percent reduction in mercury emissions on a 12-month rolling average basis or an output-based emission rate of 0.008 lb/GW_hr. The default baseline coal and fuel analysis for input mercury levels will be based on the data collected for the 1999 EPA Information Collection Request. An extension on the 2015 deadline may be granted until Dec. 31, 2017. Source-wide averaging or pooling is permitted. If an existing source is unable to meet the 90 percent target, the source may substitute a multi-pollutant plan to meet 75 percent SO₂ and NO_x removal.  “Existing coal-fired EGUs will choose one of three options in order to comply with the emission limits,” the department announced, “and any new EGU will be required to meet Best Available Control Requirements for mercury.”

Lansing Board of Water & Light Eckert 1-6 have interim limits and an extension until 2018 to meet a station total of 57 pounds of mercury per 12-month rolling time period. City of Marquette Shiras 3 and Michigan South Central Power Agency Endicott 1 may request alternative mercury standards.

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