Friday, March 19, 2004

    Subject: Mercury: make sure people know

    Dear MoveOn member,

    Thanks for being one of 180,000 MoveOn members
    who've told the EPA not to delay a scheduled
    cleanup of toxic mercury by over ten years. Although
    this is a scandalous attempt by the Bush
    administration to protect its friends in the energy
    industry at the expense of our children's health, the
    mercury issue is not getting much media attention.

    Our papers need to know that mercury pollution
    from power plants has a direct impact on our
    families and should be covered closely. Please take a
    few minutes today to write a letter to the editor
    of your local paper. Filling the nation's
    editorial pages with letters from concerned citizens is
    a great way to help keep the pressure on the Bush
    administration to protect us from mercury
    pollution.

    Writing a letter to the editor doesn't actually
    take very long -- you can do it in ten minutes or
    less. A letter that's short, sweet, and to the
    point has the best chance of getting published.

    We've added some tips and some talking points
    below. Once you've written, please let us know at:

    http://www.moveon.org/mercuryltes.html?id=2470-3261555-QspU.FOy39jnfkqQr5YOwA

    Even though public comment has been
    overwhelmingly against delaying mercury cleanup, we have seen
    in similar situations that 99% negative public
    feedback is not always enough. We need to shine a
    very bright media spotlight on this issue. Not
    long ago, front page media attention to a proposal
    to weaken protection against arsenic pollution in
    our drinking water shamed the Bush administration
    into doing the right thing.

    Working together, we can make sure that mercury
    emissions are cleaned up as quickly as possible.

    Sincerely,

    - Carrie, Joan, Noah, Peter, and Wes
    The MoveOn.org team
    Thursday, March 18th, 2004

    RESOURCES FOR LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

    I. Tips

    II. Talking Points

    I. Tips on how to get your letter published:

    - Your own words, written from the heart, are
    always best.

    - Brevity is the soul of wit.

    - The key to publication is to pounce on
    something specific you've
    seen in the newspaper -- anything that seems
    related to you.

    - Be sure to include your name and address, and
    especially your phone
    number when submitting your letter. Editors
    need to call you to
    verify authorship before they can print your
    letter. They don't
    print your phone number.

    - Your newspaper's letters page should give you
    an email address or
    fax number to use, or you can try this
    website:

    http://congress.org/congressorg/dbq/media/

    - Please let us know when you've sent your
    letter by going to:

    http://www.moveon.org/mercuryltes.html?id=2470-3261555-QspU.FOy39jnfkqQr5YOwA


    II. Talking points

    There is no uncertainty about the danger to the
    environment, and to humans, emanating from power
    plant mercury pollution.

    The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
    estimate that 8% of women of childbearing age in
    the U.S. have mercury levels in their blood that
    are unsafe.

    The EPA itself reports that 630,000 infants are
    born annually who are at risk for learning
    disabilities. Mercury is a toxic metal that can cause
    severe neurological and developmental problems in
    unborn fetuses and young children.

    The EPA and forty-three states have now issued
    advisories warning people, especially women and
    children, to avoid or limit eating local fish
    because of mercury. This table shows the advisories
    that are in effect where you live

    http://www.moveon.org/mercury/table.pdf

    Source: Clear the Air coalition.

    The Bush administration proposes to not regulate
    mercury as a dangerous poison, but instead to
    allow power plants to emit mercury pollution ten
    years longer than is necessary.

    The EPA was initially planning to require power
    plants to reduce mercury emissions by 90 percent
    by 2008.

    In December, the EPA announced a mercury plan
    that will expose our children to far more mercury,
    for far longer, than what the agency has said is
    achievable and cost-effective. The proposal also
    is less stringent than was recommended by the
    majority of the EPA's own panel of experts who spent
    more than two years working on this problem.

    The EPA now proposes to regulate mercury from
    utility companies as if it were a non-hazardous
    pollutant, demanding only a 30 percent emission
    reduction and allowing some sources to avoid controls
    entirely by buying pollution "credits."

    When plants are not forced to curb pollution but
    can buy pollution credits, it increases the
    chances that there will be communities where mercury
    pollution is more prevalent.

    The proposal also would give polluters at least
    15 years to make the reductions rather than the
    three years currently required by law.


    The Bottom Line:

    The EPA must protect our children by making all
    power plants install controls to stop mercury
    pollution by 2008.

    More information can be found on MoveOn's Mercury
    Resources page:

    http://www.moveon.org/mercury/mercury-resources.html
    _______________

    This is a message from MoveOn.org.

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