Progressive Democrat Issue 39: ENVIRONMENTAL ACTION

Sometime back I focused on the seeming Republican tactic of poisoning Americans—Arsenic in our drinking water, mercury emissions, destroying the clean air and clean water acts. All of this makes our air and water less safe for average Americans. This trend continues! Now we are back to mercury emissions.

Compiled from the League of Conservation Voters and Act for Change:

Mercury is a potent neurotoxin that has been shown, even in minute doses, to seriously harm young children. The largest single source of mercury in our environment is emissions from coal-fired power plants. Incredibly, the Bush administration now wants to relax the rules and allow these plants to continue polluting our environment with high levels of mercury. Working Assets is partnering with the League of Conservation Voters (LCV) to call attention to this problem, and we're asking you to take action today.

Last March, the Bush Administration finalized a pro-industry rule for mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants. But now Congress has the opportunity to effectively overturn a key part of this rule and force stricter regulation of this toxic pollutant…

The scope of the problem is clear. Pregnant or nursing women, women of childbearing age, and children are now advised not to eat ANY of the high-mercury fish species such as tilefish, shark and swordfish, and no more than two servings of other types of fish (such as tuna) per week. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one in 12 women of childbearing age currently has a mercury level in her blood that is unsafe for a developing fetus.

Yet in response to this widespread public health threat, the Bush Administration has proposed a ten-year delay in implementing regulations designed to cut mercury emissions by 90 percent. The Administration also wants to remove coal-fired power plants from the list of mercury sources that can be regulated under the Clean Air Act. In response, Senators Snowe and Leahy have introduced a bipartisan resolution of disapproval to prevent these proposals from going forward.

As the Bush Administration proposed their weak rules, 45 Senators and 10 Attorneys General expressed opposition to the plan. Now it's time for Congress to take action and force the Bush Administration to clean mercury from coal-burning power plants.

Take Action Now: Tell your Senators to force stricter regulation of mercury emissions.

And now from the Public Interest Research Group (PIRG):

Toxic mercury pollution is so pervasive that many Americans cannot safely eat fish caught in local waters. Mercury causes learning disabilities, developmental delays, and other serious problems. But rather than crack down on the largest U.S. source of mercury pollution - power plants - the Bush administration recently gave polluters a pass, delaying reductions in mercury pollution from power plants for years to come.

Senators Patrick Leahy (VT) and Susan Collins (ME) have introduced a bipartisan joint resolution that would overturn the Bush administration's mercury plan and send the administration back to the drawing board to write a rule that complies with the law and protects public health.

Please take a moment to urge your senators to protect Americans from mercury pollution by voting for the Leahy-Collins resolution. Then help spread the word by forwarding this email to three mothers concerned abouut the impact of mercury pollution on their children's development.

Background

Mercury is a potent neurotoxin that can affect the brain, heart, and immune system. Children and developing fetuses are especially at risk. Even low-level exposure can cause learning disabilities, developmental delays, and other problems, and EPA scientists estimate that one in six women has enough mercury in her body to put her child at risk should she become pregnant.

Notwithstanding these risks, the Bush administration recently finalized two rules that do too little, too late to reduce mercury pollution from power plants, the largest manmade source of mercury emissions in the U.S. The first rule (the "delisting rule") takes power plants off the list of sources subject to strict controls for their emissions of mercury and other toxic air pollutants, paving the way for the second rule, an industry-favored "cap-and-trade" plan that delays even modest mercury reductions until 2018 and lets power plants buy and trade the right to pollute. Such a trading scheme increases the risk of mercury "hot spots" around plants that choose to buy mercury credits rather than reduce their pollution.

In issuing these rules, the Bush administration ignored the law, which requires power plants to reduce their mercury emissions by the maximum achievable extent, about 90% by 2008. The administration also ignored the science on mercury, widespread public opposition, and highly critical reports by three separate government bodies, including EPA's own children's health committee, foisting what amounts to a do-nothing approach on the public for years to come even though proven, cost-effective control technology is already available. And it did so even though recent studies by the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis, the Mt. Sinai School of Medicine, and the EPA's own water office have all shown tremendous benefits from reducing mercury pollution from power plants.

To date, 15 states and a variety of other groups, including environmental and public health advocates, Indian tribes, and the City of Baltimore, have challenged the administration's mercury rules in court or petitioned the EPA for reconsideration of the delisting rule. Then, on June 29, Senators Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Susan Collins (R-ME) introduced a bipartisan resolution to disapprove the delisting rule. If enacted, this resolution would nullify the rule, sending EPA back to the drawing board to craft a rule that complies with the law and protects public health.

Please take a moment to urge your senators to protect Americans from mercury pollution by voting for the Leahy-Collins resolution. Then help spread the word by forwarding this to three mothers concerned abouut the impact of mercury pollution on their children's development.

The life you save may be your own, your child’s or my child’s. Please, help stop the Republican-sponsored poisoning of Americans.