TrueMajority - EPA Plans to Reduce Air Pollution Controls
Here is an email I got from TrueMajority.org:
EPA Plans to Reduce Air Pollution Controls
Have Your Voice Heard
Does this make sense? The government agency that looks out for food
safety urges that we limit how much fish we eat because of mercury
contamination.
Meanwhile, another agency responsible for preventing mercury from
getting into the fish (and the rest of the environment) proposes
relaxing controls on releases of the poison.
Mercury is known to damage the brains of children growing in the
womb.[1] This heavy metal comes out of smokestacks at coal-fired
plants, falling back to earth and poisoning its creatures. Like
other toxic materials that don’t break down, mercury concentrates up
the food chain. Because high levels of mercury are now found in many
fish, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a warning this
month advising pregnant women and children to stay away from
swordfish and to limit the amount of “chunk white” canned tuna they
eat to no
more than six ounces per week.[2]
Yet just as the FDA urges people to eat less otherwise-healthy food,
the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposes delaying the
regulation of mercury in coal-plant emissions - the largest source
of mercury contamination, but the only one unregulated by our
government.[3]
The Clean Air Act requires the EPA to set limits on power-plant
pollution such as mercury, taking into account what can be done
using current technology. The EPA said it could require a 90 percent
reduction in mercury emissions by 2008 using current technology. But
instead, the Bush administration proposed dragging out the process
until 2018, and even then cleaning up only 70% of mercury emissions.
[4]
To weaken the current standards, the EPA will have to change its own
rules.
This is where you come in. The EPA is required to accept public
comments on this proposed rule change. TrueMajority is joining the
Environmental Working Group, the Natural Resources Defense Council,
the National Council of Churches, the Mercury Policy Project,
Physicians for Social Responsibility, and Health Care Without Harm
to oppose these changes.
To tell the Bush Administration’s EPA that you want mercury out of
our environment so we can feed fish again safely to our children,
click here:
http://action.truemajority.com/index.asp?action=10163&ms=merc4
Yours for a safe environment,
Ben
P.S. You asked for ‘em; you got ‘em. Here are some footnotes for
those of you
looking to learn more about this issue.
[1] Environmental Working Group (2001). Brain Food: What women
should know
about mercury contamination of fish. www.ewg.org/issues/mercury.
[2] U.S. Food and Drug Administration (2004). What you need to know
about
mercury in fish and shellfish. www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/admehg3.html.
[3] U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (1997). EPA Mercury Study
Report to
Congress. www.epa.gov/airprogm/oar/mercury.html.
[4] Federal Register, January 30, 1994. 69(20). pp. 4652-4752.