BY PAULA MANLEY AND CONNIE FERGUSON
The League of Women Voters of the Kalamazoo Area strongly opposes the current attacks against the Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to protect Americans from dangerous air pollution. The Clean Air Act has protected lives and health successfully for more than 40 years. Air pollution causes or contributes to serious lung diseases, cancer, neurological defects, heart disease and other health problems. There are real costs to doctor and hospital visits, medication and time lost from work and school.
There has been a recent pattern of opposition to EPA’s actions to implement the Clean Air Act updates. For example, in January, Representative Fred Upton, as chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, co-signed a letter to the Office of Management and Budget asking them to withhold issuance of the EPA’s proposed regulations regarding greenhouse gas emissions from new and modified power plants. His stated concern is the regulations’ impact on jobs and the economy.
EPA has made the scientific determination that air pollution threatens the environment and public health. For every dollar spent to reduce pollution from power plants, Americans will receive up to $9 in health benefits. The EPA worked extensively with stakeholders, including industry, to create these regulatory standards. The technology is readily available and manufactured by U.S. companies. Clean energy jobs are created in the manufacture and installation of these pollution control technologies. New power plants are replacing dirty, old plants. States are successfully making the transition, with 85 percent of the nation’s electric generating plants unaffected because they rely on nuclear or gas for fuel or already are complying.
Mercury levels in Great Lakes fish and birds are increasing. One in 10 women of childbearing age has mercury levels high enough to put her babies at risk for neurological deficiencies. State fish advisories limit consumption of fish to once a week for adults and once a month for women and children.
The proposed Clean Air Act updates are long anticipated. The courts have affirmed EPA’s right to regulate toxics in our air. While some states and industries have spent their time and money fighting these regulations, others have begun the implementation process. Illinois passed mercury pollution standards in 2006, with compliance by 2013. Coal plants, which produce 80 percent of mercury pollution, have largely complied. The lights have stayed on, utility rates are stable and mercury pollution has dropped significantly.
In 2010, our Great Lakes governors, in partnership with regional mayors, state and federal agencies and tribes, developed a strategy to reduce mercury because of its significant threat to lakes and rivers. These voluntary recommendations called for reducing power plant emissions and eliminating mercury from products.
An overwhelming majority of Michigan voters support EPA action, according to a polling survey by the firm Greenberg, Quinlan, Rosner Research. Voters believe that scientists, not politicians, should decide how to curb pollution.
The League of Women Voters urges support for the clean air policies recommended by scientists and public health experts. It is time to reduce dangerous pollution and safeguard public health. We cannot delay.
Paula Manley and Connie Ferguson are co-presidents for the League of Women Voters of the Kalamazoo Area.