Tell The EPA: No More Toxic Air

Mercury is so toxic . . . just 1/70 of a teaspoon can contaminate a 20 acre lake. Imagine the damage 50 tons can do.

Coal-fired power plants emit over 50 tons of mercury into our air every single year, more than any other source. Today, mercury exposure is so widespread in our country that as many as 1 in 6 women of childbearing age have blood mercury levels high enough to put a baby at risk of mercury poisoning.

There are no restrictions on the amount of toxic mercury that utility companies can emit. But, at long last, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has proposed a critical rule to reduce the emission of mercury and other toxic chemicals that power plants are now able to freely dump into our air.

The Power Plant Mercury and Air Toxins Standard is the most important clean air rule since 1990 – and the EPA is predictably under tremendous pressure by the coal industry and other polluters to weaken it. Now, the EPA has asked us, the public, to weigh in on this critical rule.

Tell the EPA you support this landmark rule to stop the unlimited emission of mercury, arsenic, lead and other toxins into our air. Submit a public comment now.

For decades, the electric industry has successfully fought requirements to reduce these toxins. They've kept releasing mercury into our air, where it finds its way into the vast majority of our lakes and waterways, into our fish, and then into our bodies, where the poison accumulates, causing deadly diseases and impairing fundamental brain functions like the ability to walk, talk, read, write and learn.

According to the EPA, reduced emissions from this new air toxins rule will save as many as 17,000 American lives every year by 2015, and will prevent up to 120,000 cases of childhood asthma. We must put our support behind this lifesaving new emissions standard!

Tell the EPA to uphold this rule and protect Americans from dangerous air pollution. Submit your public comment now.

Source: Earth Day Network