SEEC praises EPA Clean Air Act standards for toxic power plant emissions
WASHINGTON, DC - Today the members of the House of Representatives Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition (SEEC) expressed strong support for the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) proposed standards to protect public health from mercury, arsenic, and other toxic pollution emitted from power plants.
When Congress passed the bipartisan Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990, it directed the EPA to issue standards to reduce toxic air pollution. Today, twenty-one years later and following a court remand of the Bush Administration’s inadequate standards, the EPA proposed rules to reduce life-threatening pollution from power plants, the nation’s largest sources of toxic air pollution.
“SEEC applauds the EPA and Obama Administration for its proposed Power Plant Toxic Emissions Rule, and for its work under the Clean Air Act to protect the health and welfare of the American people,” said SEEC Co-Chair Rep. Jay Inslee (D-WA). “For forty years this law has been reducing air pollution in an effective, cost-beneficial manner that has improved air quality and also driven innovations. This rule, and EPA’s continued work to protect clean air, are vitally important to a prosperous United States.”
“The actions that the EPA are taking today are so common sense, most people think they’re already in place,” said SEEC Vice Chair Rep. Jared Polis (D-CO). “These safeguards are long overdue, over a decade in the making, and will finally start to reduce the hundreds of thousands of tons of toxic coal plant pollutants, from mercury to arsenic, that can have health impacts on nearly every part of the human body.”
“Reductions in mercury pollution are overdue, especially for communities like Northern Virginia that are home to coal power plants,” said SEEC Vice Chair Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA).
SEEC Vice Chair Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-ME) said that “the science is clear - reducing toxic air pollution can save thousands of lives. And these new standards will also drive American innovation, creating new technologies and new jobs.”
“Protecting public health and ensuring the safety of our citizens is one of government’s most important roles. These standards, which stem from decades of research, will provide the certainty and stability needed to create jobs and protect the air we breathe and the water we drink,” said SEEC Vice Chair Rep. Paul Tonko (D-NY).
“Mercury is an extremely dangerous neurotoxin which is known to cause problems during fetal development and in growing children,” said SEEC member Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL). “By issuing today’s rule, EPA is addressing the number one source of mercury pollution in the United States. I want to applaud the Obama Administration for taking this important step toward protecting the public’s health.”
Contrary to much of the current political rhetoric - which has featured Congressional Republicans repeatedly attacking the EPA and the Clean Air Act - historically Congress has led the way directing federal agencies like the EPA to protect public health. The Clean Air Act was signed into law by Republican President Richard Nixon in 1970, and the important Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 were made law under Republican President George H.W. Bush.
SEEC – a coalition of 48 House Democrats led by Reps. Jay Inslee (D-WA) and Steve Israel (D-NY) organized to advance clean energy and environmental protection, and address climate change - has been a vocal advocate for the Clean Air Act and actions being taken by the EPA to reduce air pollution that endangers public health and welfare.
Additional materials:
EPA news release: EPA Proposes First National Standard for Mercury Pollution from Power Plants / Mercury and air toxics standards represent one of strongest health protections from air pollution since passage of Clean Air Act
EPA materials on today’s proposed rule: Reducing Toxic Air Emissions From Power Plants
March 2011 EPA report: Benefits and Costs of the Clean Air Act, Second Prospective Study - 1990 to 2020
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