Welcoming Overdue Mercury Standards

It's time for the EPA to stand up for kids.

By Mary Anne Hitt

As a mother with a toddler, I'm always trying to protect my daughter. From choking hazards to toxic household chemicals, from busy streets to steep stairs, there are a lot of dangers that keep us parents on our toes. Unfortunately, there are some toxins our children get exposed to before they are even born.

Mercury is a particularly harmful air toxin that spews from the smokestacks at coal-fired power plants into our waterways. From there, it builds up in the environment and in the fish we eat. It's a potent neurotoxin that's especially dangerous to children and embryos. Being exposed to mercury in the womb can harm a child's ability to walk, talk, read, and write.

Mercury contaminates fish, which can poison us. Just one gram of mercury deposited from the atmosphere per year, over time, is enough to contaminate a 20-acre lake so severely that its fish will become unsafe to eat on a regular basis. Yet 48 tons of this deadly chemical are being pumped into our air each and every year from coal-fired power plants alone. It's the largest domestic source of unregulated mercury emissions in the United States.

The mercury problem is so widespread that, according to studies by the Environmental Protection Agency, at least 1 in 12 — and as many as 1 in 6 — American women of childbearing age have enough mercury in their bodies to put a fetus at risk of developmental problems. That means that over 300,000 babies are born each year at risk of mercury poisoning. These statistics scared me when I was pregnant and still shock me.

Thankfully, the Obama administration is expected to move forward soon with new, long-awaited protections from mercury based on recommendations from the EPA. Right now, there are no national limits on the amount of airborne toxins that coal-fired power plants can spew into the air. These new protections are poised to reduce mercury pollution by over 90 percent. But they're not in place yet.

Our families are paying for the costs of toxic air pollution with these sometimes deadly health problems, as well as unfishable rivers, lakes, and streams. Study after study shows that to protect public health, polluters must significantly reduce the amount of toxic air coming out of their smokestacks.

We need the EPA to protect us from mercury pollution with national limits for power plants. It's not just parents and grandparents who should care. If you're an avid angler, how tired are you of all the advisories against eating the fish you catch? Cleaning up mercury means safer fish, fewer cases of learning disabilities, and reduced incidence of heart disease.

Strong mercury standards will also help our economy. New protections can reduce the costs of health care for people sick from toxic pollution, and they can create jobs installing pollution-control equipment in power plants. Putting these national protections in place isn't rocket science.

In fact, most other industries are already meeting national mercury standards. Some states got so tired of waiting for federal action that they have enacted their own mercury standards for coal plants. The coal industry has enjoyed this national loophole for decades. Closing it is long overdue.

The EPA's mission is to develop and enforce much-needed safeguards to keep polluters from making us sick. Dirty energy corporations are putting their bottom lines before our children's health.

I know I can't raise my daughter in a completely pollution-free world, but I can protect her from the worst of it by encouraging the EPA to stand up for kids. We need the Obama administration to protect American families by holding Big Coal and corporate polluters accountable.

It's high time the government put mercury safeguards in place for our children's health.

Mary Anne Hitt is the Director of the Sierra Club's Beyond Coal Campaign. beyondcoal.org
Cross-Posted from OtherWords (OtherWords.org)

More Responses To TRAIN Act

The passage of the TRAIN Act has driven more readers to write to their local newspapers.

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Mary Alice Cicerale

Rally Opposing TRAIN Act

I attended a Sierra Club rally [on September 27] in downtown Philadelphia in protest of U.S. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor’s plans to wipe out basic public health protections against life-threatening pollution such as arsenic, carbon dioxide, coal ash, soot, smog and toxic mercury.

I was joined by over 50 other Pennsylvanians who are outraged at this attack on public health and the environment. Based on polls I have read I believe most Pennsylvanians agree with us. Even Governor Rendell was there to lend his voice and support to our cause!

Pollution Hurts Economy

Cantor and far right Republicans claim their plan will boost the economy by creating jobs, but in reality, it will cost hundreds of billions of dollars in taxpayer money and tens of thousands of lives! The bedrock public health protections his plan will dismantle will hurt the economy, making it even tougher for families to make ends meet – forcing many Americans to collectively miss millions of days of work each year to care for sick family members or for themselves. It will also waste billions of taxpayer dollars treating preventable illness and disease caused by pollution, and will further burden American families and businesses with out-of-pocket medical costs and higher health insurance premiums.

Hurting The EPA Hurts Us

The Environmental Protection Agency has a critical role to play in protecting the public from toxic mercury and asthma attacks brought on by smog pollution, and in keeping our air and water safe and clean. But Rep. Cantor wont’ let the EPA do what it was created to accomplish. His plan will put American lives at risk to score political points with polluters and Congress should reject these polluter-led attacks on the health of our families, children and communities and focus on real solutions that can grow the economy.

By preserving the basic clean air and clean water protections that Americans have counted on for decades, we can ensure healthy families and a strong economy.

Janet Cooke

Clean Environment Critical To Our Future

As a new grandma, with a grandson, 2 ½, and a granddaughter, 4 months, there is nothing more important to me than insuring that this planet we inhabit will continue to have clean air, water and land. It is imperative that we continue to support the EPA and all its efforts to protect these resources for all of us - now and for the future.

TRAIN Act Wrecks Environment

Regrettably, a majority of members of the U.S. House recently passed the Transparency in Regulatory Analysis of Impacts on the Nation (TRAIN) Act, which would seriously undermine the EPA's efforts to promote clean air. We can only hope that it will not pass the Senate. Everything great that we aspire to as individuals and as a nation depends on the Earth remaining a healthy planet. I urge everyone to please tell their elected officials that to oppose the TRAIN Act and any attempts to weaken the EPA

Leslie Sell

TRAIN Act Wrecks The EPA

On September 23, Congressmen Jim Gerlach, Patrick Meehan, and Mike Fitzpatrick, helped the US House of Representatives succeed in passing the Train Act (H.R. 2401). This anti-clean air legislation intended to thwart EPA regulations and shut down the ability of the EPA to carry out its mandate would, among other things, indefinitely delay (until 2018) two critical and long-awaited air pollution standards, the Mercury and Air Toxics Standard and the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule. Furthermore, setting of standards would require consideration of the economic impact on polluters and would no longer be based solely on the expert opinion of the medical and scientific community. This legislation is a disastrous setback to the environment and to our health.

The EPA Has Saved Lives

The EPA, established under Republican President Richard Nixon in response to a series of environmental disasters, has been enormously effective in providing air quality and health benefits. Through its landmark clean air programs, the EPA has been responsible for preventing 1.7 million asthma exacerbations and 160,000 deaths in 2010 alone. The EPA is not a “rogue agency” responsible for high-priced energy, loss of jobs, or dependence on foreign fossil fuels. Let’s let the EPA do its job unencumbered by political rhetoric and the moneyed influence of big polluters, and let us remember the actions of these congressmen at the voting booth.

Michael McFarlin

Downtown Rally
I recently attended a rally in downtown Philadelphia to draw attention to U.S. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor's plans to wipe out basic public health protections against life-threatening pollution such as toxic mercury, arsenic, soot, smog, carbon dioxide and coal ash. I was joined by over 50 other like-minded Pennsylvanians and our message touched hundreds of others.

Outrage at TRAIN Act
I was absolutely outraged that this attack on public health and the environment was ever formalized into a bill, let alone that the Republican majority in the House passed it. Based on polls I have read, I believe most Pennsylvanians agree with us but I am very concerned that many are not aware of what is happening. In fact, over 70% of the country and a majority of Republicans say protecting the environment is critical.

Costs of TRAIN Act
Cantor and extremist Republicans claim their plan will create jobs, but in reality, it will cost tens of thousands of lives and hundreds of billions of dollars in taxpayer money. His plan to dismantle critical public health protections will hurt the economy and make it tougher for families to make ends meet – forcing Americans to collectively miss millions of days of work each year to care for sick family members or for themselves. It will also waste billions of taxpayer dollars treating preventable illness and disease caused by pollution, and will further burden American families and businesses with out-of-pocket medical costs and higher health insurance premiums.

Public Health At Risk
The Environmental Protection Agency has a critical role to play in protecting the public from toxic mercury, asthma attacks brought on by smog pollution and keeping our air and water safe and clean. Rep. Cantor wants to put American lives at risk to score political points with polluters and Congress should reject these polluter-led attacks on the health of our communities, families and children and focus on real solutions that grow the economy.

We Need The EPA
By preserving the basic clean air and clean water protections that Americans have counted on for decades, we can ensure healthy families and a strong economy. Before Pennsylvania has even met the much-needed standards of the Clean Air Act, Cantor and his cronies are seeking, through a series of legislative measures, to frack the bedrock upon which the foundations of existing environmental policies rest. This cannot stand. To draw a timely comparison, if the Environmental Protection Agency's role as a protector of the environment is dismantled, a shining stone of hope will be crumbled into a mountain of despair. I would hope all will support the EPA, and their power to breathe, with their power to vote!

TRAIN Act Will Wreck Environment

When House Republicans passed the TRAIN Act, four of our readers spoke out in letters to the editors of their local papers.

Steve Harvey

TRAIN Act Crippling: The House of Representatives recently passed the Transparency in Regulatory Analysis of Impacts on the Nation (TRAIN) Act of 2011, which would disable key provisions of the Clean Air Act. The TRAIN Act is designed to cripple the EPA. It would add layers of bureaucracy before the EPA can act to control industrial emissions. It would derail important new air quality standards. At a time when the air in the Philadelphia region is recognized as near the worst in the country, this is very bad news.

Partisanship At Play: Why was the TRAIN Act opposed by most House Democrats and yet supported by all but four Republicans, including all Republican representatives from the Philadelphia region (Fitzpatrick, Gerlach, LoBiondo, Meehan, and Runyan)? When did the environment become a strictly partisan matter?

Protecting Environment Is Bi-partisan Issue: The Clean Air Act was signed by President Nixon in 1970 and expanded by 1990 amendments that were championed by President George H.W. Bush. We need a return to a saner time, when Republicans joined with Democrats in support of clean air. We cannot afford to have the environment become yet another political football.

Sue Edwards

Clean Air Rules Are Good For Health: The U.S. House of Representatives recently passed the TRAIN Act, which could indefinitely postpone clean air regulations that would protect us from mercury, soot, and toxins in the air we have to breathe.

50 Rally In Protest: In response to this assault on our health, 50 of us rallied outside U.S. Senator Bob Casey's office, asking that he lead the charge in the Senate to stop this ill-conceived bill, which asks us to give up our right to healthy, breathable air as a supposed trade-off for jobs.

Polluters’ Smokescreen: The idea that regulations are "job-killing," a mantra being repeated by Republican representatives, is a smokescreen to allow big polluters to get away with business as usual while the public is left to carry the costs of asthma, heart disease, birth defects, and other impacts that dirty air makes worse.

This letter cross-posted from philly.com,

Peter Barnes

Hard Being Jobless: Jobs for Lives? Who are politicians really serving? I know it is rough out there when it comes to jobs. Although I have a great job today, I was laid off at the beginning of this recession. Even with my job today, I’m making half of what I used to make. I understand the importance of jobs as much as anyone.

Harder Suffering Pollution: But that kind of mad-hatter politics, endangering your own constituents to save a few jobs for companies who pollute our air and water, is literally sickening. I have tried to avoid the topic of politics these days because of all of the divisiveness in the air and how sharply divided friends and even family seem to be. However, when I learned about the potential impact of the TRAIN Act proposed by House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, I attended the first rally I’d been to in years.

Rally Supporting The EPA: The Sierra Club called about the rally. With a name like “Rally for Clean Air,” how could I say no? It was downtown in front of Senator Casey’s office to support the EPA. It felt great to see so many other people who care.

TRAIN Headed For A Wreck: This TRAIN ACT is the most underhanded political trick I have ever read about, billed as a job saver that will take away restrictions on companies that pollute the air and water with mercury and other deadly contaminants. So essentially he is saying let’s save a few jobs and let’s ignore the safety of Americans. Shame on you Eric Cantor. Cutting the power of the EPA at times like these and giving big business free reign to pollute, is like letting little children play with matches with no Mom around to watch them.

Get Off The TRAIN: Please protect our air and water. SAY NO to the TRAIN Act, H.R. 2401, and keep an eye on what the kids with matches are up to in the House. Using a down turn in the economy as an excuse to pollute is bad no matter what side of the political fence you sit on. Stop that TRAIN Act, I want to get off!

Chara Armon

Meehan Is Wrong: On Sept. 23, Representative Pat Meehan voted for legislation that exposes Americans to toxic mercury and will increase asthma attacks brought on by smog pollution.

Meehan claims that the costs of basic pollution protections that Pennsylvanians and all Americans have relied on for 40 years are too high. If signed into law, the TRAIN Act (H.R. 2401) will cost 34,000 lives.

Healthy Economy Requires Healthy People: America's economy can't be healthy if America's people are sick. Allowing corporations to dump toxic pollution into the air our children and our families breathe, will not help the economy recover. I applaud President Obama for his vow to veto this bill and urge our senators to reject the House's reckless attack on American values and clean air.

This letter cross-posted from philly.com,