FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 14, 2005

CONTACT:
Joel Finkelstein, (w) 202.887.1345, (c) 202.285.0113 Dave Bard, (w) 202.778.4551, (c) 202.486.4426

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STATEMENT OF ANGELA LEDFORD, DIRECTOR OF CLEAR THE AIR ON THE NEW BUSH ADMINISTRATION MERCURY RULE

"The real story behind today's rule is how big energy once again was able to get preferential treatment from the Bush administration. In the fine print, EPA is illegally revoking its earlier finding that it is appropriate and necessary to regulate all toxic emissions from power plants, just like all other industrial sources. Our children will be the ones who pay for this give-away to energy companies.

"Despite growing evidence of the dangers of mercury, EPA is adopting rules favored by polluters, at the expense of expectant mothers and children. Just today, national education and learning disability groups urged greater protections to prevent widespread mercury poisoning.

"Three strikes means you're out, except to the Bush administration. Today's rule has been condemned by three separate independent and nonpartisan expert panels. The EPA Inspector General, the Government Accountability Office, and the Children's Health Protection Advisory Committee have all found that the rule is deeply flawed. In addition, press reports show that large sections of the rule were actually written by energy company lawyers.

"Nearly half the Senate last year told EPA it was going down the wrong road on mercury. Yet even before he is confirmed, the new administrator has put his name on a very risky and very unpopular rule. Steve Johnson's honeymoon was over before it even began."

BACKGROUND
* The Learning Disabilities Association of America, the National Education Association and The Arc of the U.S. just released a guide for parents that warns them of the dangers of toxic mercury pollution and explains its connection with potential learning disabilities. The brochure is online at - www.mercuryhurts.org.

* GAO Report - This report on the mercury rule can be found at:
http://cta.policy.net/reports/GAOreportFeb05.pdf.

* Children's Health Protection Advisory Committee (CHPAC) - The CHPAC is composed of doctors, nurses and other child and public health experts from academia, state agencies, industry, and the public sector, all of whom were appointed by the current administration. In several letters to EPA, CHPAC has condemned EPA's approach for failing to protect public health. The letters are online at:
http://yosemite.epa.gov/ochp/ochpweb.nsf/content/whatwe_recomm.htm#8.

* IG Report - According to a report released by the EPA Inspector General on February 3, 2005, "Evidence indicates that EPA senior management instructed EPA staff to develop a Maximum Achievable Control Technology (MACT) standard for mercury that would result in national emissions of 34 tons annually, instead of basing the standard on an unbiased determination of what the top performing units were achieving in practice." This report is online at:
http://www.cleartheair.org/documents/epa_oig_report.pdf.

* Washington Post article identifying industry's influence on the mercury rule - The September 22, 2004 Washington Post article, "EPA Wording Found to Mirror Industry's, Influence on Mercury Proposal Probed," clearly showed how industry helped write the Bush administration's proposed mercury rule. This article also discussed EPA's failure to address lead, chromium and other toxics.

* This rule generated more than 600,000 comments - breaking all previous EPA rule comment records.

* Last year, 45 U.S. senators sent a letter to Administrator Leavitt opposing the Bush administration's mercury rule. This letter can be found at - http://leahy.senate.gov/issues/environment/mercury/Leavitt040104.pdf.