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A Daily Chronicle of Bush Administration Distortion November 12, 2003

     

Administration Behind Weakening of Mercury Standards in Clear Skies Bill



Recently, the Bush administration provided revised environmental modeling data in order to justify an increase in the allowable level of mercury pollution, a departure from Bush's earlier claims that he "believe[s] that by combining the ethic of good stewardship and the spirit of innovation, we will continue to improve the quality of our air and the health of our economy and improve the chance for people to have a good life here in America."1 The White House web site boasts that Bush's Clear Skies legislation "cuts mercury (Hg) emissions by 69 percent -- the first-ever national cap on mercury emissions."2

Using a Bush EPA report to justify the change3, Republican Senator James Inhofe, the Chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee, on Monday introduced a revision to Bush's "Clear Skies Act" that would raise the acceptable levels of mercury pollution in the bill from 26 tons of mercury per year to 34 tons.4

The upward revision of the limits was announced four days after release of the report, conducted by the U.S. EPA, the state of Florida and the U.S. Geological Survey. The report concluded that, "strict government controls of emissions can produce dramatic improvements in much less time than scientists once assumed." For example, largemouth bass contaminant levels in the Everglades declined by 60 to 75 percent since state and federal agencies "began waging an aggressive campaign in the early 1990s to close or modernize municipal and medical-waste incinerators that emitted mercury gases."5,6

Meanwhile, since March 2003, Senator James Jeffords of Vermont has been seeking EPA attention on a separate mercury pollution standard, "maximum achievable control technology" (MACT). The MACT rule is viewed as too stringent by industry,7 because it does not provide for buying "credits" from lesser-polluting factories, and because of its target implementation date, now set for 2007. Last week, Jeffords sent a letter to White House Budget Director, Joshua Bolten and newly-installed EPA administrator Mike Leavitt asking for follow-up on the issue.

Sources:
  1. Presidential Speech, 9/16/2003.
  2. "Clear Skies: A Clear Improvement for the Environment," White House Web site.
  3. "Washington in Brief: 'Clear Skies' Revision Would Allow More Mercury Pollution," Washington Post, 11/11/03, p. A03.
  4. "Inhofe, Voinovich Introduce Revised Clear Skies Legislation," Senate Enviornment and Public Works Committee Website, 11/10/03.
  5. "Mercury Rules Work, Study Finds," Washington Post, 11/06/03, pA10.
  6. "Florida Everglades Study Reveals Decline In Mercury Levels,"Florida Department of Environmental Protection, 11/06/03.
  7. "Mercury Rules Work, Study Finds," Washington Post, 11/06/03, pA10.



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