ERIE—Standing beside a giant inflated model of a
fish in Erie today, Mayor Filippi, Lake Erie Region Conservancy, Pennsylvania
Chapter of Republicans for Environmental Protection, and Clear the Air called
on the Bush administration to toughen up its mercury pollution regulations.
The event was organized by PennEnvironment and was part of a nationwide tour
sponsored by Clear the Air, a national campaign to clean up the nation's fleet
of aging coal-burning power plants.
Eating mercury-contaminated fish is the primary way people
are exposed to mercury, a highly toxic chemical that can cause learning disabilities,
developmental delays, and problems with fine motor coordination in children.
Clean air supporters in the Senate and House are working
to send the Bush administration back to the drawing board to strengthen its
mercury proposal, which would allow power plants to emit six to seven times
more mercury for a decade longer than the Clean Air Act requires.
"Lake Erie and its tributaries are among our communities
most vital resource and we must do more to protect the waters from the horrible
damaging effects of substances such as mercury. I am committed to do all I can
to ensure that our citizens have the cleanest, safest water available to them,"
stated Sara Gallaway, of the mayor's office.
"People in Pennsylvania should be able to eat fish
caught in Lake Erie without worrying that it is contaminated with mercury,"
said John Claridge, board member of the Pennsylvania chapter of Republicans
for Environmental Protection.
Power plants are the nation's largest industrial source
of mercury emissions. Unlike garbage incinerators and other major mercury sources,
power plants can emit unlimited amounts of mercury into the air, which then
mixes with rain and snow, falls onto the land and into water bodies, and ultimately
enters the food chain. Power plants in Pennsylvania emitted 7,427 pounds of
mercury in 2001, ranking third in the country for the highest emissions.
Pennsylvania has posted health warnings for mercury in
every lake and river statewide. These advisories urge people to avoid or limit
consumption of fish due to high levels of mercury.
"One in six women of childbearing age has unsafe
levels of mercury in her blood. This means that 630,000 of the four million
babies that are born each year already have been exposed to enough mercury to
cause serious health problems," said Paul Hutter, with Clear the Air. "This
is no time for the Bush administration to weaken public health protections."
Like lead, mercury is a neurotoxin that is particularly
dangerous to fetuses, infants, and young children because their brains are developing.
When a pregnant woman eats mercury-contaminated fish, the mercury can cross
the placenta and enter her baby's brain. Infants can ingest mercury from breast
milk, and children eat mercury-contaminated tuna sandwiches and other fish.
"The Bush administration should stop listening to
its big campaign contributors in the energy industry, drop its mercury proposal,
and start protecting our children's health and the environment," stated
Tom Furhman, president of Lake Erie Region Conservancy.
PennEnvironment is a non-profit, environmental advocacy
organization with more than 13,000 citizen members across Pennsylvania.
