Disapproval of EPA Rule Promulgation
DISAPPROVAL OF EPA RULE PROMULGATION -- (Senate - September 12, 2005)
Ms. COLLINS. Mr. President, I rise today in support of the resolution that would disapprove of the EPA's improperly crafted rule on mercury emissions, a rule that both the Agency's own inspector general, as well as the Government Accountability Office, 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 is carrying enough accumulated mercury in her body to pose risk 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 the 12-month period from 1999 to 2000 with blood mercury levels higher than what are considered safe. In addition, a new study released last week by the Mount Sinai School of Medicine found that more than 1,500 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 river, lake, 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 in Maine's beautiful waters, it is especially difficult for indigenous people, like those of the Penobscot Nation, for whom subsistence fishing is an important part of their culture.
Mercury is dangerous not only to people--and particularly children--but also to wildlife. Let me cite one study conducted by researchers in my own State. The Biodiversity Research Institute in Falmouth, ME, found that mercury concentration in loon eggs increased from Western to Eastern United States. They found that mercury concentration in loon eggs in Maine was dangerously--nearly four times--higher than those found in Alaska where there is not the exposure to mercury from powerplants that we experience in Maine due to the prevailing winds.
Despite the overwhelming hazards of mercury pollution and the fact that coal-fired powerplants are the single largest source of mercury emissions in our country, the EPA inexplicably decided to remove powerplants 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 the industry an extra decade to meet even this weaker emissions level. If this rule is allowed to go into effect, powerplants 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 GAO have severely criticized the EPA rule. The IG found that the EPA conducted analyses in order to justify a predetermined conclusion, did not adequately analyze the impact of this rule on the health of our children, and the EPA was found by the inspector general not to have conducted the appropriate cost-benefit analysis of regulatory alternatives. The GAO found that their cost-effective mercury controls would make it possible to achieve far greater mercury emissions reductions than the EPA rule calls for.
I call on our colleagues to join me--Senator Leahy, Senator Jeffords, Senator Snowe, and many others--in sending this flawed rule back to the drawing board. EPA's mercury rule is not based on sound science. It does not employ the proper cost-benefit analysis. It will harm human health and the health of our environment, and it simply should not be allowed to go into effect. Our resolution, the Leahy-Collins resolution, would give the EPA the chance to fix these flaws and come back with a rule that would better protect the American people and our Nation's streams, rivers, lakes, air, and wildlife.
I yield the remainder of my time to the Senator from Vermont.
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