National lawmakers are coming close to finalizing a mercury emissions rule for coal-fired power plants, but Illinois already has rules in place aimed at the reduction of those pollutants.  Laurel Kroack, with the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, says Illinois is ahead of other states because it has required plants to address cleaning up emissions since 2007.

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Under existing state rule, all 23 of Illinois' coal-fired power plants will have to reduce mercury emissions by 90 percent by 2015.  Kroack says over half of the state's plants have already met the goal or are at least ten percent below it.

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Laurel Kroack, Chief of the Bureau of Air at the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, says policies enacted during the previous governor's administration set Illinois up for success.