18 Senate Democrats Join GOP in Assault on EPA’s Boiler Proposal
By Gabriel Nelson
The New York Times
In a sign of growing bipartisan opposition to a proposed crackdown on air pollution from industrial boilers, 18 Senate Democrats have joined a slew of Republicans in asking EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson to scale back the agency’s plans.
The 41 senators are worried about the proposed “Boiler MACT” rule, which would require operators of the boilers to install maximum achievable control technology (MACT) for toxic air pollutants such as mercury. It could cost tens of billions of dollars to upgrade the nation’s roughly 200,000 boilers, which provide power to many industrial facilities, universities and hospitals.

