It reads like a novel, really.
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We Can't Stay Silent Mercury pollution is dangerous, especially for kids and pregnant women. The Bush EPA is putting corporate profits above the need for public safety. Please speak out. |
It wasn't that long ago. Only 2003. The big electric utilities were petrified. In response to a 1990 Congressional mandate, the EPA finally was set to create new regulations that would control mercury from coal-fired power plants. Mercury is a toxic metal that builds up in the environment over time and is especially harmful to children and pregnant women.
So the power industry went to their allies in the Bush administration, and they asked them to control the scientists and the career staff at the EPA. Specifically, they got EPA to instruct the staff to set modest limits on mercury, and then to work backwards from the predetermined goal to justify the proposal.
It sounds like the overeager imagination of a novelist. It sounds like this summer's beach bestseller, perhaps released a few months too soon, while most of us are still in the middle of winter. But it's not. It's the conclusion of a new report by the Inspector General for the EPA.
According to the report, long time staff, already familiar with the Bush administration's anti-environmental behavior on issues like New Source Review and drilling in the Arctic, were still taken aback.
"I don't think anyone has ever seen as much political influence in the development of a rule as we saw in this rule," the Washington Post quoted one EPA staff member, who attended meetings between administrators and staff. "Everything about this rule was decided at a political level… The political level made the decisions, and the staff did what they were told."
But the real outrage was still to come.
The Inspector General released her report. She showed that the process for creating the mercury regulations was hopelessly flawed and corrupt. And she called for an "unbiased" restructuring of the plan, even if it meant delaying the rule beyond next month, which was when it was to be finalized.
The EPA still plans to release the rule on schedule.
This is an outrage. And we need to make sure our friends and neighbors are aware of the issue. People need to know that this is not business as usual. We need to make it clear that playing politics with children’s health is unacceptable. We need the EPA to try again, this time without a predetermined conclusion.
Please, send a
letter to the editor today.
Thanks for taking the time.
Ron Zucker