Alberta mercury regulation for coal-fired power plants

Alberta stakeholders, through the Province's Clean Air Strategic Alliance (CASA), identified mercury as the pollutant of highest priority for control from coal-fired power plants. Working with CASA, the Province finalized a new Mercury Emission from Coal-Fired Power Plants Regulation [Mercury Emissions From Coal-fired Power Plants Regulation, March 2006, Alberta Regulation 34/2006, Alberta Queen's Printer, Regulation may be found at http://www.gov.ab.ca/qp.] [1]. The regulation places the province at the forefront of controlling mercury emissions from the sector on a global level by driving actions to reduce mercury emissions from existing coal-fired power plants in the province by at least 50% by 2010. Requirements also include continuous improvement provisions for further mercury reductions beyond 2010 based on technology advancement over the next 10 years. This paper summarises the regulation, the work the province undertook at the provincial and national level in its development, and status of implementation actions.