Carper Critical of EPA’s New Mercury Rule

WASHINGTON (March 15, 2005) – Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., issued the following statement today regarding the Environmental Protection Agency’s new mercury standard for power plants. Carper is the senior Democrat on the Senate’s Clean Air, Climate Change and Nuclear Safety Subcommittee. “The Bush administration’s new mercury standard will not adequately protect Delawareans or the rest of the country from a potent neurotoxin that EPA has determined to be a serious health threat, especially to pregnant women and children. The administration appears to have traded in its responsibility to regulate mercury under the Clean Air Act in favor of pushing a weak standard that would let many of the country’s dirtiest power plants off the hook. Congress should pass multi-pollutant legislation now that includes more stringent mercury cuts, including mandatory pollution reductions at every power plant, as I have proposed. Only through comprehensive clean air legislation that restricts mercury and other pollutants will we achieve the kind of air quality all Americans deserve.”