New England鈥檚 last coal plant, Merrimack Station in Bow, was one of dozens of facilities that received an exemption from new federal hazardous air pollution standards.
The exemption comes as the Trump Administration plans to the rules themselves, known as the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards, or MATS. The Biden Administration an update to those rules last year.
Granite Shore Power, which owns the plant, announced last year they would stop using coal to make power at Merrimack Station by 2028. Despite President Trump鈥檚 recent actions in of coal plants, the company says they are continuing with plans last year to turn that facility and Schiller Station in Portsmouth into 鈥渞enewable energy parks.鈥�
鈥淥ur goal has been and remains simple; to ensure the region has the reliable and affordable energy that our businesses and families need,鈥� Granite Shore Power said in a written statement.
Meanwhile, the exemption Merrimack Station and received means will not need to comply with a set of rules aimed at reducing mercury emissions and other toxic air pollutants that were set to take effect in 2027.
Instead, the plants will be from the rules for two years.
Joseph Goffman, a former assistant administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency, said the new Mercury and Air Toxic Standards were part of the agency鈥檚 effort to create comprehensive rules that would address the impacts of coal.
鈥淐oal fired generation not only results in pollutants that cause climate change, but it also results in pollutants that have very serious health effects,鈥� he said.
Mercury, for example, is a that can affect the nervous system and kidneys.
Goffman said there鈥檚 precedent for power plants with a firm commitment to shut down, like Merrimack Station, to be granted an exemption from federal requirements. Merrimack Station鈥檚 plan to shut down in 2028 is laid out in a settlement agreement with the Environmental Protection Agency and advocacy groups.
But, he said, blanket exemptions from federal pollution rules for many plants at once, like the one issued earlier this month are unusual.
鈥淭hey changed the compliance date for all these plants for a rule that's already on the books, without going through the process that the agency normally has to go through to ensure that the public knows what's going on,鈥� he said.
Goffman said by the time the exemption expires, the Trump Administration may have already changed the underlying rule itself.
鈥淚 think what we're really looking at is a future in which none of these power plants will ever have to reduce a single pound of their toxic air emissions at all,鈥� he said.
Granite Shore power said the exemption does not change Merrimack Station鈥檚 compliance with current emissions standards, and noted that plants typically have the opportunity to be exempt from rules before shutting down to avoid unreasonable expenses for compliance.
鈥淓ssentially, without this exemption, Merrimack Station would have been forced to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars for monitoring equipment for a plant that will be closing months later,鈥� the company said in a statement.
