February 11, 2004

Statement of Clean Air Council on Bush Administration's Mercury Proposal

"My name is Brooks Mountcastle and I am the Director of the Clean Air Council's Harrisburg Office. The Council operates the state's only children's environmental health advocacy center. The goal of the center is to promote public policies that protect children from environmental harm.

Clean Air Council is outraged by the Environmental Protection Agency's blatant attempts to rewrite the environmental laws to benefit polluters at the expense of public health.

Mercury is a dangerous neurotoxin that poses a special threat to children. Elevated levels of mercury interfere with the development and function of the central nervous system, as well as the cardiovascular and reproductive systems. Even at extremely low levels, mercury can cause subtle but permanent harm to brain development.

Mercury pollution is widespread in Pennsylvania. The largest source of mercury pollution in the United States is coal-fired power plants, and Pennsylvania has a lot of them. Pennsylvania's power plants emit more mercury pollution than those in any other states, except Texas and Ohio. According to EPA data, the Keystone Power Plant in Armstrong County emits more mercury into the air than any other power plant in the nation.

The impacts of this pollution are severe: The state Department of Environmental Protection has had to issue advisories warning people to limit their consumption of fish caught in all of the Commonwealth's lakes and streams. According to an EPA report released this month, one in seven women in America today have levels of mercury in their bloodstreams unsafe for fetuses.

Do we really want unborn children at risk for developmental defects just because their mothers ate fish before becoming pregnant? Should an otherwise healthy source of protein be off-limits to women of child-bearing age? This situation is unacceptable, especially given that the technology needed to reduce mercury pollution is so readily available.

When Governor Whitman was head of the EPA she said that power plant emissions of mercury could be reduced to a total of just 5 tons annually by the end of 2007. A federal court has approved a plan that would deliver such mercury reductions by that time. Today, EPA is trying to backtrack by calling for reductions to 34 tons a day by 2010 and 15 tons by 2018. Any way you cut it that means exposing Pennsylvania's children to greater amounts of mercury over a much longer period of time.

We need to stand up and say that this is unconscionable. Our kids must not be exposed to dangerous toxins when the technology is available to reduce that pollution. The Council calls on state and local leaders, and concerned citizens and advocates to express opposition to EPA's plans for more mercury by coming to Philadelphia on February 25 and 26 to testify at the Public Hearings at the Wyndham Hotel at Franklin Plaza, 17th and Race Streets. To schedule a speaking slot, please call Joann Allman at 919-541-1815 or email Joann at allman.joann@epa.gov."