Pennsylvania’s State Capitol is under siege. Mercury polluters are working the halls of the legislature to stop Pennsylvania from cutting this toxic pollution by 90 percent, even though mercury threatens the health of women and babies. You will hear exactly how in this podcast with expert Dr. Ted Schettler. We felt we needed to run this one again because it is so critical.
One would hope that lobbyists for mercury polluters would have gotten a cold reception from our legislators. But so far, too many elected members have rolled out the welcome mat to those companies that pump thousands of pounds of highly toxic mercury into our air, water and into us. The power companies not only pump mercury into our environment; they also pump lots of toxic dollars into the coffers of politicians.
Of course — we can hear the politicians saying — all that cash did not influence one legislator. Perish the thought.
But something made 121 House members and a number of senators of both parties initially agree to sponsor two companion bills, HB 2610 and SB 1201, which the lobbyists for power companies desperately want.
These bills would stop Pennsylvania from adopting a regulation requiring power plants to cut their toxic mercury pollution by 90 percent in order to protect women and their babies from exposure to high levels of mercury contamination. The bills prohibit Pennsylvania from moving ahead with its own rule and require the Commonwealth to settle for the illegal federal mercury regulation - which Pennsylvania and 13 other states have sued to stop.
In 2004, Pennsylvania power plants were the second biggest mercury polluters in the country, with only Texas’ power plants spewing more. In
In reality, these bills guarantee that Pennsylvania power plants will NOT reduce their mercury pollution by 86 percent because many of the plants will buy mercury allowances under the illegal federal trading scheme, instead of installing available, affordable pollution control technology.
Trading is especially dangerous for a toxic substance like mercury, as communities near the power plants will continue to be exposed to unacceptably high levels of mercury contamination. The "opportunity to participate in a national emissions trading program for mercury…" is actually an opportunity to continue to be slowly poisoned at our own expense.
Mercury pollution controls are available and very affordable, as a Department of Energy official acknowledged last Friday on the public television show "Pennsylvania Inside Out" on WPSU. On the show, Tom Feely III of the National Energy Technology Laboratory said, "There is existing technology that has already proven to be able to take mercury out… That technology is relatively inexpensive on a capital cost basis compared to a scrubber… We don’t anticipate — just looking at some back of the envelope calculations that we’ve done — that there would be a significant increase in electric utility rates."
During the last election cycle the utilities and the Chamber fertilized the political ground with at least $804,000 in campaign contributions. They are now reaping the harvest of that generosity.
But then, again, one would think that few legislators would relish going into the election season with their names on a bill that weakens protection for our most vulnerable citizens and draws the ire of Pennsylvania sportsmen and women.
The legislators who signed onto this bill made a political calculation in an election year, ranking the desires of the polluters above the public health of their constituents. The losers in the calculation are Pennsylvania’s women and babies, the real casualties of the Siege of Capitol Hill.
Take action! Contact your legislators now to voice your dismay at these bills and your support for the DEP rule on mercury.
