"The EPA's current proposals fall far short of what is required by the Clean Air Act. The Administration's proposed rules would fail to protect public health and the environment," said Senator Collins. "The EPA should withdraw its current mercury proposal and issue a new rule that would reduce mercury emissions in the shortest time possible."
Senator Collins has been an ardent opponent of the EPA's proposed mercury rules since they were announced late last year. She has written separate letters to the President, the Vice President, and the EPA Administrator in defense of the Clean Air Act and its critical provisions for addressing mercury emissions. She has also introduced the Clean Power Act along with Senator Jim Jeffords of Vermont, which would reduce mercury emissions by 90 percent and reduce carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen oxide emissions from power plants.
"The EPA's proposals would allow seven times more mercury pollution than would be allowed under the Jeffords-Collins Clean Power Act," said Senator Collins. "If the EPA is truly committed to protecting our children and our environment from the harmful elements that power plants spew into our air, they would carry out the requirements of the Clean Air Act and enact stronger regulations that reduce these emissions now and in the future."
In the letter to EPA Administrator Michael Leavitt, the bipartisan group of Senators pointed out that the toxicity of mercury has been proven by scientists around the world. In fact, EPA scientists recently released a study finding that during a 12-month period from 1999 to 2000, approximately 630,000 infants were born in the U.S. with blood mercury levels higher than what is considered safe. This number is double that of previous estimates. The letter also states that mercury emissions have contaminated ten million acres of lakes and 400,000 miles of streams.
The Senators wrote, "We can address this public health and environmental problem. According to many states, industry experts, and past EPA analyses, the technology to dramatically clean up these plants is available and affordable."