Following are Senator Collins remarks:
"Mr. President, I rise today in support of S. J. Res. 20. This resolution would disapprove of the EPA''s improperly crafted rule on mercury emissions, a rule that both the agency's own IG and the GAO have criticized.
"In the wrong form, mercury is an acutely dangerous toxin that can cause serious neurodevelopmental harm, especially to children and pregnant women. Recent studies indicate that at least one in six women of childbearing age in the United States carries enough accumulated mercury in her body to pose risks of adverse health effects to her children, should she become pregnant.
"Tragically, EPA's own scientists found that some 630,000 infants were born in the United States in a 12-month period from 1999 to 2000 with blood mercury levels higher than what is considered safe. In addition, a new study released just last week by the Mount Sinai School of Medicine found that more than 1500 children are born in the United States every year with mental retardation as a result of mercury exposure.
"To see just how toxic mercury is, one does not have to look any farther than my home state of Maine. Every freshwater lake, river, and stream in my state is subject to a mercury advisory warning pregnant women and young children to limit consumption of fish caught in these waters. While this advisory is bad enough for the many anglers who love to fish Maine''s beautiful waters, it is especially difficult for indigenous peoples like those of the Penobscot Indian Nation for whom subsistence fishing is an important part of their culture.
"Mercury is dangerous not only to people, but also to wildlife. Let me cite one study conducted by researchers in my own state. The Biodiversity Research Institute in Falmouth, Maine, found that mercury concentrations in loon eggs increase from western to eastern North America. They found that mercury concentrations in loon eggs in Maine were dangerously high, nearly four times higher than those found in Alaska, which is not exposed to mercury from power plants.
"Despite the overwhelming hazards of mercury pollution and the fact that coal-fired power plants are the single largest source of mercury emissions in the United States, the EPA inexplicably decided to remove power plants from the list of mercury sources that must be regulated under the strictest provisions of the Clean Air Act.
"Instead, the EPA rule would regulate mercury emissions under a much weaker cap and trade program, and would give industry an extra decade to meet this weaker emissions level.
"If this rule goes into effect, power plants will be free to continue spewing unlimited amounts of toxic mercury into our air until the year 2018.
"Both the EPA Inspector General and the Government Accountability Office have severely criticized the EPA rule. The Inspector General found that the EPA conducted analyses in order to justify a predetermined conclusion, did not adequately analyze the impact of the rule on children''s health, and did not conduct the appropriate cost-benefit analysis of regulatory alternatives. The GAO found that there are cost-effective mercury controls that would make it possible to achieve far greater mercury emissions reductions than EPA is calling for.
"I call on our colleagues to join me, Senator Leahy and many others in sending this flawed rule back to the agency. The EPA''s mercury rule is not based on science, did not employ proper cost-benefit analyses, harms human health and our environment, and should not be allowed to go into effect. Our resolution would give EPA the chance to fix these flaws and come back with a rule that would better protect the American people and the nation's streams, rivers, lakes, air, and wildlife."
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