Sign ORI's letter for responsible stewardship, no mercury from power plants Provide your comments for U. S. Senators why you want less mercury in our air and food, and why power companies should be held responsible.

Defend EPA's New Mercury Emissions Standards For Coal Plants

Outrigger Canoeist with Salem MA coal pile next to power plant looming large.

Defend EPA From Attacks On New Mercury Emissions Standards For Coal-Fired Power Plants

The EPA’s new proposed standards to limit mercury and other air polluting toxics emissions are under attack. Rep. Ed Whitfield, Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Energy and Power, is moving to stop implementation of EPA regulations of air pollutants.  He claims EPA regulations will cost the industry money, raise electricity costs, and cut jobs.

Every other industry’s air pollution is regulated but for coal-fired power plants.  EPA proposed rule will require all plants to meet the standard of the cleanest current plants. This regulation will create 31,000 short-term construction jobs and 9,000 permanent utility sector jobs.*  This regulation will save Americans $140 billion annually in health care costs.  

Coal-burning power plants are the largest source of mercury emissions in the U.S. According to the EPA, they account for half of all mercury emissions nationally. EPA scientists predict the new standards will prevent 91 percent of the mercury found in coal-powered plants from being emitted into our air. The harmful effects of mercury emissions on human health are too great.

Mercury is a potent neurotoxin, particularly damaging to the development of the fetus and young child. A 2003 survey conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that one in 12 (eight percent) American women of childbearing age had mercury in their blood above the levels considered safe by EPA. This puts approximately 322,000 newborns at risk for neurological deficits each and every year.

Mercury and other toxic emissions get into the water and hurt marine life. Mercury gets into our oceans and lakes, hurting marine life. The EPA has found that almost 50 percent of the nation's lakes and reservoirs have amounts exceeding safe levels. Top predator marine life, including blue fin tuna and swordfish, are at greatest risk. Methylmercury, the most toxic form of mercury, is consumed up the food chain seven tropic levels to long-lived fish. Mammals pass concentrated toxins in milk fat to their young.

Stand with ORI to defend the EPA’s mercury emissions and air pollution limits of dirty electric utilities.

Let the EPA regulate our air quality!  Tell Washington coal-fired power plants must not be permitted to poison us more than do the better operated industries.  

Sign on to our letter and add your own personal comments to give it greater value.

The EPA announced its new baseline to reduce power plant emissions, in particular mercury, on March 16.  Since then tens of thousands of Americans have suffered, hundreds have died, while power utilities don’t act to improve emission to simply the level of the better operating utilities. Click here to see the count go up while nay-sayers work to delay and we wait for rules to be enacted.  

Stopping Coal-fired Power Plants in Salem MA and Chicago IL, GreenPeace's Kelly Mitchell is Rob's guest on Moir's Environmental Dialogues, Ocean River Shields of Achilles.  Subscribe for free on iTunes. 

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