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Senate Fails in Bid to Block Bush Mercury Plan By JR Pegg WASHINGTON, DC , September 13, 2005 (ENS) - The Senate today narrowly defeated a resolut ion to block the Bush administrations controversial plan to cut mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants. The 51-47 vote upholds a federal rule that permits a mercury emissions tr ading program, which critics contend violates the Clean Air Act and fail s to address the serious public health and environmental concerns associ ated with the toxic metal. "The rule is not based on sound science," said Senator Susan Collins, a M aine Republican, "and it will harm human health and the health of our en vironment." plant FirstEnergy's Bruce Mansfield coal-fired power plant in Pennsylvania, a coal-rich state. Some 44 states have issued fish consumption advisories due to mercury con tamination in some or all of their waters. Young children and women of childbearing age are most at risk the federal government estimates at least one in eight American women of childbeari ng age has unsafe levels of mercury levels in her blood. Senator James Inhofe, an Oklahoma Republican, said sponsors of the resolu tion were wasting time on a measure that had no chance of affecting the implementation of the Bush rules. Inhofe called the vote "purely political and essentially meaningless," no ting that the White House had pledged to veto the resolution and that th e House was unlikely to even consider it. senators Vermont Senators Patrick Leahy (center) and Jim Jeffords spoke with the media yesterday about their efforts to repeal the controversial mercury pollution rule. "This was a debate that powerful special interests had been able to preve nt, until now," said Leahy. "We have garnered more support than anyone t hought possible just a few months ago when we began this effort." Debate on the measure reflected sharp disagreement about the Bush adminis trations mercury plan - divisions that breach party lines. Six Democrats joined 45 Republicans in voting against the resolution; nin e Republicans, 37 Democrats and the Senates lone Independent supported t he measure. Mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants are currently unregulated - these facilities emit some 48 tons of mercury each year, accounting fo r about 40 percent of the nation's mercury pollution. Proponents say the Bush plan, which aims to reduce these emissions some 7 0 percent by 2018, is the most cost effective way to cut mercury polluti on and is modeled after a program that has successfully cut acid rain po llution. Deeper cuts would hurt the industry, supporters say, and raise electricit y costs without much benefit to public health. But the Bush plan has drawn broad criticism and is the subject of several federal court challenges by more than a dozen states and an array of pu blic health and environmental groups. Critics say it is an inappropriate regulatory approach because of the dan ger posed by the toxic metal. Inhofe US Senator James Inhofe of Oklahoma, who chairs the Senate Environment Committee, said the resolution was a waste of time.
Friends of Jim Inhofe) The cap and trade plan puts industry-wide limits on mercury emissions and issues tradeable credits to plants that reduce emissions below the limi ts. But it allows some plants to avoid making any reductions. Opponents contend this will create local hot spots of pollution, disproportionatel y impacting individual communities. "I am confounded by the failure of this rule to meet either the spirit or letter of the law," said Senator Olympia Snowe, a Maine Republican. "It is clearly delinquent in protecting all Americans equally from the haza rds of mercury." Industry supporters are overstating the economic impact of stricter regul ations, Leahy said, and underplaying the health benefits that would acco mpany cuts in mercury pollution. A peer reviewed study released last week by the Mount Sinai School of Med icines Center for Childrens Health and the Environment estimated some $2 billion a year is lost due to the public health impacts of mercury poll ution, Leahy said. "We are telling a whole generation of women and children that their healt h is less important than energy companies profits," Leahy said. The Senate resolution took specific aim at a March 2005 rule that allows the federal government to implement the cap and trade plan. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that determined mercury emissi ons from power plants should be reduced using maximum achievable control technology (MACT). Supporters of the resolution say that reversal is a clear violation of th e Clean Air Act and noted that development of the mercury policy was lit tered with controversy. Large passages of the draft rule were lifted verbatim from industry memos and a report by the EPA Inspector General found that senior agency offi cials manipulated the development of the mercury rule in order to favor the emissions trading plan. In addition, the Government Accountability Office determined the EPAs eco nomic analysis of the mercury rule was seriously flawed and violated the agencys own policy guidelines. The facts point to "an intentional and illegal effort to circumvent the l aw designed to benefit big energy companies at the expense of the public ," said Senator James Jeffords, a Vermont Independent. Opponents of the Bush mercury plan contend power plants should be forced to cut emissions much more quickly than the goals outlined in the curren t regulations. town Peninsula Harbour, at the Lake Superior North Shore town of Marathon, Ontario is contaminated with mercury. The greatest concentrations of mercury lie in the waters close to the paper factory shown by the smokestack near the center of the photo.
EcoSuperior) They note that in a presentation to an industry trade group in 2001, EPA officials said a MACT standard could reduce mercury emissions 90 percent - to 55 million tons - four years after a rule is finalized. MACT standards have been used to rein in the two other major sources of m ercury pollution in the United States - medical and municipal waste inci nerators. Utility groups have lobbied hard against a mercury MACT standard, arguing that commercial technologies are too new and expensive to achieve such reductions, and noting that US power plants only contribute one percen t of global mercury pollution. The resolutions sponsors would derail the only mercury regulation on the books and fail to see that mercury pollution is "a global issue," accord ing to Senator George Voinovich, an Ohio Republican. "The technology does not exist to accomplish what proponents want," added Senator Kit Bond, a Missouri Republican. "If I had a magic wand, I woul d be happy to wave it and support a 90 percent reduction. Advocates of a stronger mercury rule say the United States should lead by example. They contend advanced emissions reduction technology does exis t and will be commercially available once there is a strong market deman d for it. "It is all well and good we want to reduce emissions in 2018 by 70 percen t," said Senator Tom Carper, a Delaware Democrat. Quote of Note "Perhaps a new revelatory experience is taking place, an experience where in human consciousness awakens to the grandeur and sacred quality of the Earth process. Humanity has not participated in such a vision since sha manic times, but in such a renewal lies our hope for the future for ours elves and for the entire planet."
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