Under energy industry pressure, the EPA plans to defer controls on mercury emissions by power plants for at least a decade. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that 4.9 million women of childbearing age in the U.S. -- that's 8 percent -- have unsafe levels of mercury in their blood. The people hit hardest will be new-born infants -- every year over 630,000 infants are born with levels of mercury in their blood so high they can cause brain damage.
There are only a few weeks left to get public comments to the EPA on this plan to defer mercury controls. It's time to tell the EPA and the White House that our kids come first. You can submit your comment by clicking this link:
http://www.moveon.org/mercury/
>From a public health standpoint, the EPA's new policy is a disaster. But for the industries that are responsible for most mercury pollution, it's a bonanza. Increased mercury pollution levels will save these companies millions that cleaning up their industries would cost.
On January 30th, the EPA announced its intention to weaken its own earlier proposal that would have required a 90 percent reduction in mercury pollution by power plants by 2008. The new proposal doesn't force every power plant to limit mercury pollution, leaving many communities vulnerable. It would also delay implementation of even these weaker requirements until 2018, leaving a whole new generation of our children needlessly at risk.
The first responsibility of the EPA is to protect our nation's most vulnerable citizens. We must boost the visibility of the mercury issue so that, as with arsenic, the EPA is made aware of our demand that the government protect our children from poisoning by adopting a more rigorous mercury emissions standard.
Please join the effort to protect our environment and our children from the debilitating effects of mercury poisoning. Your comments will bolster the efforts of other concerned people who are showing up today at public hearings on this issue in Chicago, Philadelphia and Raleigh.
Tell the EPA to protect our children's health by making power companies reduce power plant mercury emissions 90% by 2008 and ensuring that these reductions occur at each and every power plant.
HERE'S HOW (it's simple and easy)
Copy the following link into your browser:
http://www.moveon.org/mercury/
then go to the link to find detailed information on mercury and the harm it causes. Follow the easy directions and tell the EPA what you think about your children's health and how that stacks up against industry profits.
Your children thank you for all your efforts.
There are only a few weeks left to get public comments to the EPA on this plan to defer mercury controls. It's time to tell the EPA and the White House that our kids come first. You can submit your comment by clicking this link:
http://www.moveon.org/mercury/
>From a public health standpoint, the EPA's new policy is a disaster. But for the industries that are responsible for most mercury pollution, it's a bonanza. Increased mercury pollution levels will save these companies millions that cleaning up their industries would cost.
On January 30th, the EPA announced its intention to weaken its own earlier proposal that would have required a 90 percent reduction in mercury pollution by power plants by 2008. The new proposal doesn't force every power plant to limit mercury pollution, leaving many communities vulnerable. It would also delay implementation of even these weaker requirements until 2018, leaving a whole new generation of our children needlessly at risk.
The first responsibility of the EPA is to protect our nation's most vulnerable citizens. We must boost the visibility of the mercury issue so that, as with arsenic, the EPA is made aware of our demand that the government protect our children from poisoning by adopting a more rigorous mercury emissions standard.
Please join the effort to protect our environment and our children from the debilitating effects of mercury poisoning. Your comments will bolster the efforts of other concerned people who are showing up today at public hearings on this issue in Chicago, Philadelphia and Raleigh.
Tell the EPA to protect our children's health by making power companies reduce power plant mercury emissions 90% by 2008 and ensuring that these reductions occur at each and every power plant.
HERE'S HOW (it's simple and easy)
Copy the following link into your browser:
http://www.moveon.org/mercury/
then go to the link to find detailed information on mercury and the harm it causes. Follow the easy directions and tell the EPA what you think about your children's health and how that stacks up against industry profits.
Your children thank you for all your efforts.
