Louise Slaughter: “I rise today as the world recognizes Earth Day, to express my strong concern with a recent proposal by the…”

“I rise today as the world recognizes Earth Day, to express my strong concern with a recent proposal by the administration to weaken standards on mercury emissions from power plants. This administration seems to have forgotten that Earth Day is our special day to look at the planet and see what needs changing. We should be moving forward with environmental policy, as we have done for nearly 35 years. Unfortunately, I fear that this administration is set on reversing these decades of progress. My constituents and other Americans are being shortchanged by attempts to weaken clean water and clean air standards, particularly the mercury proposal. As co-chair of the Congressional Caucus on Women's Issues, I am very concerned that women and children, the groups who are at most risk from mercury exposure, are hurt by this proposal. A recent analysis by the EPA indicates that 1 in 6 women of childbearing age have levels of mercury in their blood at unsafe levels; 1 in 12 women of childbearing age has enough mercury in her system to pose a potential threat to fetal health. This contamination results in more than 600,000 newborns at risk of neurological problems due to mercury exposure. We need to take immediate action to reduce women and children's exposure to mercury. Under the Clean Air Act, toxic substances like mercury must be controlled at each and every power plant by using the maximum achievable control technologies.”