The Bush administration took a nasty rejection from a federal court on Friday on their attempt to exempt the coal plants from submitting to the emission control regulations. The three-judge panel declared the Environmental Protection Agency failed to take into consideration the effect of such a policy on public health.

The ruling stated the EPA had broken the Clean Air Act in 2005, when it released the “Clean Air Mercury Rule”, which allowed utilities trade the right to release mercury. The “cap-and-trade” mechanism immediately raised alarm signals from scientists, who warned such regulations would pose a serious danger to the people in the region.

The “Clean Air Mercury Rule” stated that power plants were allowed to buy pollution credits instead of using the adequate technology for controlling mercury levels. The danger mercury poses targets at first the food supply. Consuming contaminated fish leads to severe health problems, including neurological problems. According to scientific estimations, 60,000 newborns could be affected by neurological complication every year.

The Environmental Protection Agency got sued by 14 states and environmental groups for the mercury act, asking for strict regulations that comply with environmental necessities. Power plants are the biggest producers of toxic substances, such as mercury, nickel and arsenic, and therefore, many states have already adopted rules severely limiting such emissions.

As strange as it seems, it is not the first time the Environmental Protection Agency doesn’t comply with…environmental interests. However, if the EPA can’t do it right, the states can, as they have already adopted strict limitations to mercury emissions before the EPA will reinstate a new act on mercury.

The 2005 EPA decision worked against the Clean Air Act adopted in December 2000, when power plants were forced to comply and install the latest technology to capture mercury emissions. The purpose was to capture over 90 percent of the mercury releases, while the EPA’s 2005 act was set to capture 70 percent of the emissions by 2018. Well, it seems like EPA should think twice before releasing an act that goes against environmental policies.