James M. Jeffords: “I am both sad and happy to re-introduce the Clean Power Act again with Senators Lieberman and Collins and the other 16…”

“I am both sad and happy to re-introduce the Clean Power Act again with Senators Lieberman and Collins and the other 16 cosponsors of the legislation from the last Congress. I am happy that they are all still as committed as I am to the fight to reduce pollution and to protect the public's health and to clean up and conserve the environment for future generations. I am sad that we have not made more progress in this fight to reduce harmful emissions of sulfur dioxides (SO<INF>X</INF>), nitrogen oxides (NO<INF>X</INF>), mercury, and carbon dioxide from fossil fuel power plants. More than 25,000 people are dying prematurely every year because of fine particulate pollution (PM<INF>-2.5</INF>) that is emitted by power plants in the form of SO<INF>X</INF> and NO<INF>X</INF>. More than 4,000 people are dying of heart attacks due to ozone exposure, part of which is caused by power plant emissions. And, over 160 million people are living in areas with unhealthy air quality. Acid rain continues to fall on our forests and lakes stressing ecosystems in the Northeast and the Southeast. Nearly all the States have some kind of fish consumption warning or advisory due to mercury contamination.”