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Bank Of America Investment The latest federal proposal to clean up mercury pollution from coal-fired power plants would do too little, too late to protect thousands of children from brain damage, officials from Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey told a public hearing Wednesday.

Critics say the EPA should regulate mercury under the provisions of the Clean Air Act, which call for much steeper and earlier emissions reductions than the agency has proposed. Christie Whitman, who headed the agency last spring when EPA staffers say they were told to forgo the normal analysis of the mercury proposal said Tuesday that she supported Leavitt's decision to order new studies. He has the option of publishing the findings before the deadline for public comment and well before the final rule is enacted, she said.

Investment Opportunity The environmental protection chief from New York State Attorney General Elliott Spitzer's office, Peter Lehner, told the hearing that mercury poisoning kills tens of thousands of people and sickens hundreds of thousands every year.

Florida's reduction of mercury levels makes a case for forceful federal action, they say. Today, the EPA will announce emissions proposals.

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Banc Of America Investment Available technology can clean up most mercury emissions, Lehner said, blaming political motivations for the plan to ease Clean Air Act provisions that "require significant reductions."

Mercury from power plants also poses grave risks, particularly to pregnant women and young children. High levels of mercury, which can cause brain damage, have been found in fish in Florida and other states. A CDC national study found that one in 12 women of childbearing age had mercury levels above the EPA' health marker. Yet the Bush administration has proposed reducing mercury emissions by only 30 percent, instead of the 90 percent reduction needed for safe levels.

Banking Investment "The Bush EPA is continuing the trend of caving in to corporate polluters, caving in to its campaign contributors," Lehner told a news conference.

Mercury is not some distant, faraway threat. Here in New Jersey, the fish in all our water bodies are so contaminated by mercury pollution that we are warned not to eat the fish. The Clean Air Act requires that the maximum available pollution controls be used to reduce emissions of toxic chemicals like mercury, and technology exists to reduce mercury emissions by 90 percent. However, this month President Bush changed the rules, declaring that mercury is not a toxic chemical and exempting power plants from the strong standards set by the Clean Air Act. Bush should put the health of our kids above the interests of the big coal and utility companies and drop this terrible proposal to weaken protections against mercury.

Investment Solution Strategic The EPA scheduled hearings Wednesday and Thursday at a Philadelphia hotel, in Chicago and in Research Triangle Park, N.C., on the rules, which the agency has said would "protect public health and the environment without interfering with the steady flow of affordable energy."

Today's action responds to petitioners' (1) EPA's decision that it is neither necessary nor appropriate to regulate power plant mercury emissions under section 112 of the Clean Air Act (called the 112 Revision Rule) and (2) trade Clean Air Mercury Rule.

Investment Banking Services Lydia Wegman, the EPA division director who chaired the five-member panel holding the Philadelphia hearings, said the rule "would reduce health risks for pregnant women, fetuses and young children who consume certain fish from local streams and lakes."

Bank Investment The proposal would cut annual mercury emissions nationally by 14 tons, or 29 percent, by 2007 and achieve a 69 percent reduction in 14 years. But opponents said that is less than the 90 percent reduction required by the current Clean Air Act.

Alternative Investment Nicholas DiPasquale, deputy secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, said the state, a major coal producer, was banking on the Clean Air Act because, "we are second in the nation, unfortunately, in mercury emissions."

Online Investment Services "What has occurred is a lackluster fiction of mercury reduction," DiPasquale said.

Accompany Essential Investment Bradley M. Campbell, New Jersey's environmental protection commissioner, said the proposal didn't fit with "the EPA's tradition of being an independent scientific watchdog."

Investment Company "It is clear from our perspective that the rule proposed by the Bush administration would deliver too little, too late," Campbell said.

Investment Management Solution Environmentalists objected to a "cap and trade" approach that would allow individual plants to exceed mercury limits by buying credits from other plants that are below the limits.

Investment Management Services Mercury pollution in Pennsylvania and New Jersey is already severe enough that officials warn people to limit consumption of fish from many lakes and streams, and pregnant women are urged to avoid the fish altogether, said Pete Goodman of the Valley Forge chapter of Trout Unlimited.

Guide Investment Stock "Consuming mercury-laden fish can damage the developing brain and nervous system, leading to developmental deficiencies and delays in walking and talking, yet the Bush administration continues to pretend that mercury is not as dangerous as it really is," said Dr. Michael McCally, president of Physicians for Social Responsibility.

Investment Manual Solution At a nearby rally by environmental groups including the Sierra Club, Clean Air Council and Citizens for Pennsylvania's Future, protesters wore costumes representing a soot-belching smokestack, a fish and the Grim Reaper.

Investment Stock While the EPA plan refers to use of "maximum achievable control technologies," Michael Fiorentino, of the Clean Air Council, told the rally it would mean a minimum of pollution control.

Essential Investment Solution "I guess in the Orwellian world of the Bush administration maximum means minimum," Fiorentino said.

Citicorp Investment Services ---

Fool Guide Investment Motley On the Net:

Fidelity Investment Services Proposed mercury rule: http://www.epa.gov/mercury

Investment Management Proposed air quality rule: http://www.epa.gov/air/interstateairquality

Francisco Investment San By Bill Bergstrom
Associated Press - 2/25/2004

Topic: Toxics

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