By AP/KWMU
Springfield, Ill – The Illinois Pollution Control Board has adopted a plan that's designed to reduce the amount of mercury emissions coming from the state's coal-fired power plants.
Under the plan, the plants will be required to reduce mercury pollution by 90 percent or more by the end of June 2009.
The Illinois standards would be stricter than those adopted by the federal government last year.
The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency filed the proposal with the Pollution Control Board in March, and the board held public hearings on the plan.
The new rule now must be submitted to the General Assembly's Joint Committee on Administrative Rules, which must give it a final approval.
Mercury is linked to learning disabilities and developmental delays in children and to heart, nervous system and kidney damage in adults.