U.S. EPA will issue a final rule requiring strict plant-specific controls for mercury and other hazardous air pollutants at power plants by November 2011, according to a consent agreement filed yesterday in a federal district court.

The agency must issue a proposed rule by March 16, 2011, and a final rule no later than Nov. 16, 2011, under the settlement filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

The consent decree comes after years of legal battles over whether EPA must require strict maximum achievable control technology (MACT) for toxic pollutants at coal- and oil-fired power plants.

EPA has said it plans to develop standards for power plants to force the installation of plant-specific controls after a federal appeals court last year tossed out the Bush administration's 2005 Clean Air Mercury Rule, an effort to regulate mercury under a cap-and-trade program.

Yesterday's agreement settles a 2008 lawsuit filed by a coalition of environmental groups arguing that the agency missed a Dec. 20, 2002, deadline to finalize standards for hazardous air pollutants emitted by power plants (E&ENews PM, Dec. 18, 2008).

"This rulemaking will drive the cleanup of coal-fired power plants in this country," said John Walke, a senior attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Council. "It will require the widespread adoption of scrubbers that will reduce not only toxic pollution but [sulfur dioxide] pollution and fine particle pollution."

Importantly, Walke said, the established deadline will ensure that the rulemaking will be completed under the Obama administration. "We want this administration to complete the rule in its first term," he said.

Earlier this week, the district court denied the Utility Air Regulatory Group's motion for summary judgment on the case.

The court rejected the utility group's argument that EPA should not be compelled to set MACT standards for power plants' toxic air emissions because the agency had decided not to in a 2005 rule.

Click here to read the agreement.