EMAIL SIGN UP!
Progressive Community
The press releases posted here have been submitted by
America's Progressive Community
For further information or to comment on this press release, please contact the organization directly.
Most Popular This Week
- Corporate Win: Supreme Court Says Monsanto Has 'Control Over Product of Life'
- How the US Turned Three Pacifists into Violent Terrorists
- Cornel West: Obama 'Is a War Criminal'
- In 'March Toward Disaster,' World Hits 400 PPM Milestone
- Revealed: How US State Department 'Twists Arms' on Monsanto's Behalf
Today's Top News
|
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
CONTACT: Environmental Working Group (EWG)
|
EPA Moves to Limit Mercury Emissions
Decision Could Reduce Up To 17,000 Premature Deaths by 2016, says Agency
WASHINGTON - December 21 - The federal Environmental Protection Agency pressed ahead today in its effort to reduce Americans’ exposure to hazardous chemicals, announcing a long-awaited new standard to reduce the amount of mercury emissions allowed from power plants in the U.S.
“Many power plants could have taken simple steps years ago to reduce mercury emissions into the environment, and with this new rule those that haven’t yet will finally be required to act,” said Environmental Working Group senior research analyst Sonya Lunder. “A number of plants in the U.S. have already installed the necessary equipment to decrease the emissions of this potent neurotoxin, but many have dragged their feet while millions of people, including children have been exposed. This common-sense standard will result in incredible cost savings as measured in less illness, fewer sick days and fewer air pollution related deaths.”
Mercury is one of the most toxic substances commonly found in the environment and people, causing permanent damage to the brain and nervous system. Much of the mercury found in the environment comes as a result of coal-fired power plant emissions, where it finds its way into the food chain and our bodies. One in 6 American women have mercury exposures high enough to adversely impact the developing brain and nervous system of the fetus during pregnancy.
“This new emissions rule has been in the works for more than a decade, only to be stalled by political shenanigans,“ added Lunder. “Administrator Jackson and the President deserve credit for this major victory for children’s health.”
In 1997 the Environmental Working Group’s analysis, “Contamination of America's Food,” concluded that fish from more than 1,660 U.S. waterways were so contaminated with mercury that they should be eaten sparingly if at all. In 2004, EWG found mercury in all 10 umbilical cord blood samples it had tested for hundreds of industrial pollutants. A similar EWG-funded study conducted 5 years later found that all 10 samples of cord blood of minority babies had mercury present as well.
Comments
Note: Disqus 2012 is best viewed on an up to date browser. Click here for information. Instructions for how to sign up to comment can be viewed here. Our Comment Policy can be viewed here. Please follow the guidelines. Note to Readers: Spam Filter May Capture Legitimate Comments...
1 Comment so far
Show AllFinally results after forty years, the First National Standards for Mercury Pollution from Power Plants. This a giant step forward for all Americans who breathe. My wife who suffers from a debilitating respiratory illness will benefit along with all Americans from this positive action. Thank you to all who made this possible, especially to Senators Jeanne Shaheen, Kelly Ayotte and Representative Charlie Bass from New Hampshire. Their yes vote has prevented further delay of the new EPA Air Rules for oil and coal fired power plants. This will help prevent up to 46,000 premature
deaths, 11,000 heart attacks and 540,000 life threatening asthma attacks.
As for me, I have now come full circle with this effort, which began In the 1970s while working as a scientist and consultant at Arthur D. Little, Inc. Cambridge, MA. At that time, we looked forward to cleaning up the air for our children and grandchildren. Now, my grandchildren are almost ready for college and will hopefully be able to see the results for which we have waited decades.
Sampling power plant emissions in South Boston, MA, forty years ago was an experience of a lifetime. I have vivid memories of that first day and many others working on the roof of the Boston Edison and other power plants under EPA contract. Along with my colleagues, a van load of scientific instruments and equipment we rode the elevator to the roof. It was a brutally cold mid winter day with an off-shore wind blowing the stack emissions down onto the rooftop. We were engulfed in the inescapable chocking gases billowing from the stack rising hundreds of feet above the Boston skyline.
I was the youngest member of the team and as the others were afraid of heights, became the first person in New England to climb the stacks to obtain samples. Hand over hand, without the security of a safety harness, rung after metal rung, I climbed risking my life hundreds of feet above the ground. Finally at the top, I inserted the twelve foot long stainless steel sampling probe which was attached to hundreds of feet of wire and tubing. My eyes were burning, my nose and throat raw from the acid mist, I could feel the vibrations of this roaring beast through my hands and feet. We spent many days on the roofs of coal and oil fired plants during that year. The sampling we did developed the initial techniques and methods for air quality sampling for the EPA.
Today, the great news is that this new rule will help to eliminate up to 90% of the toxins from emissions which include: Mercury, Cadmium, Arsenic, Antimony, Thallium, Beryllium, Chromium, Lead, Hydrogen Fluoride and the radioactive carcinogens of Uranium, Thorium and Radon. According to the American Lung Association, nearly 155 million people in the United States live in counties with unhealthful ozone, particulates and these deadly pollutants.
Eliminating these toxic emissions will now vastly improve the health of all Americans and save billions in health care costs annually. The Clean Air Act of 1970 (CAA) continues a 40-year track record of using sound science to save lives, protect human health and safeguard our environment.