The Environmental Protection Agency (E.P.A.) (really, isn't it time to replace "Protection" with "Destruction"?) has submitted to Trump a proposal that would weaken curbs on the emissions of mercury by power plants.
This is yet another attack on an environmental protection law put in place by President Obama. In 2011, Congress authorized the E.P.A. to establish the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards, placing curbs on the emissions of toxic metals that are the byproduct of burning coal at power plants. In doing so, the E.P.A. estimated that the regulation would prevent 11,000 premature deaths and 4,700 heart attacks a year.
Now Trump is proposing to weaken those curbs.
This is a major victory for the coal industry and an equally major statement that the Trump administration is willing to destroy lives in order to save coal. We should be investing in smart new clean energy solutions rather than fighting for the unsustainable and harmful ones. Mercury is a deadly pollutant and is known to damage the nervous systems of children and fetuses.
This is madness. Tell Donald Trump not to weaken the mercury emission rules.
