Mercury wins the day

In our opinion
09-15-2005

In another victory for power plant operators and other energy producers who curry favor from the White House and the Republican-controlled Congress, a Senate resolution to bring some sanity, and perhaps a modicum of accountability in regard to mercury emissions, was swept aside in a largely party line vote on Tuesday. The vote, under a rarely used provision called the Congressional Review Act, was 51-47, with six Democrats crossing the aisle to vote with Republicans. The change toward stiffer mercury emissions standards was sought by environmental and health groups who say the current President Bush-backed rules are too weak, with a time frame too lenient, to do much good in battling the ill effects of mercury poisoning. They also argue that the current rule is in clear violation of the Clean Air Act, which requires power companies to use the best technology available in trimming back pollution. The White House and its allies in the Senate have long favored a so-called “market-based” approach to environmental regulation, which is essentially just what it claims, a policy that seeks environmental and health protections only when it causes no discomfort to big energy companies. What it does to the health and well-being of ordinary Americans, or to the water they drink, the fish they consume or the air they breathe, seemingly, is beside the point. It is all part of an administration philosophy that says “pollute now, profit now, and pay later.” And pay we will, in the form of sick babies, poisoned streams and dirty air.

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