| Montreal, 25/01/2005 – On 18 January 2005, the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) of North America received a revised submission asserting that the United States is failing to effectively enforce the federal Clean Water Act against coal-fired power plants for mercury emissions.
The revised version of submission SEM-04-005 (Coal-fired Power Plants) was filed by the Sierra Legal Defence Fund and Waterkeeper Alliance on behalf of Friends of the Earth Canada, Friends of the Earth-US, Earthroots, Centre for Environmentally Sustainable Development, Great Lakes United, Pollution Probe, Waterkeeper Alliance, and Sierra Club (US and Canada). On 16 December 2004, the CEC Secretariat determined that the original submission, filed 20 September 2004, contained sufficient information for some, but not all, of its assertions and gave the Submitters 30 days to re-file a submission with sufficient information regarding the submission as a whole.
The revision to the submission consists of a new appendix containing information in response to the Secretariat's determination. The new information focuses on coal-fired power plants in ten states – Alabama, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas and West Virginia. The Submitters claim that emissions from those power plants represent almost 60 percent of US mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants and that the experience in those ten states is "reflective of the broader problem in the US" The Submitters clarify that the submission covers the period 1993 through 2004.
The Secretariat of the CEC will analyze the revised submission to determine whether it now meets the requirements of Article 14 of the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation (NAAEC).
The citizen submissions mechanism of the CEC enables the public to play a whistle-blower role on matters of environmental law enforcement. Under Article 14 of the NAAEC, any person or nongovernmental organization may submit a claim alleging that a NAFTA partner has failed to effectively enforce its environmental law. Following a review of the submission, the CEC may investigate the matter and pursue a factual record of its findings.
Please visit the Citizen Submissions on Enforcement Matters page for more information.
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