Mercury

[Guest guest]

TODAY'S MIS-LEAD: White House Debates Mercury Policy Behind Closed Doors

Today is the EPA's deadline to announce its plan for regulating mercury from

coal-burning power plants. A leaked draft indicates it will downgrade

mercury as a toxin while weakening efforts to clean up mercury emissions.

This weakening comes just days after the Food and Drug Administration

announced that it plans to warn women of child-bearing age and children to

limit consumption of canned tuna because of high levels of mercury, which

can cause learning disabilities and other serious problems in fetuses and

young children.

On Dec. 5, the White House summoned EPA and FDA officials to discuss the

awkward timing of the contradictory mercury announcements. White House

officials wanted the two agencies to brief them " to ensure federal

communication about mercury risks can be defended, " according to the trade

publication Inside EPA.

" No one's saying what happened at the meeting, " Bender, director of

the Mercury Policy Project, told BushGreenwatch.org. " What we do know is

that President Bush's EPA is slated today to formally announce a dramatic

weakening of emission limits for mercury, a potent poison for children and

the unborn, from coal burning. It presents the appearance, and perhaps the

reality, of allowing children to be poisoned for the sake of campaign

contributions. "

President Bush has been by far the top recipient of campaign contributions

from electric utilities since 2000. White House records show that while

utility representatives were invited to discuss the mercury emission

proposal with the White House several times this fall, no consumer or public

health groups were included.

Mercury is emitted by coal-fired power plants and is converted into a more

toxic form when it hits water, where it accumulates in fish. When people eat

contaminated fish, like tuna, they ingest the toxin. Canned tuna is the

most-consumed fish by women and children, the most vulnerable population,

Bender said.

So who benefits from the Administration's mercury rules?

Southern Company, for one. Five of the coal-burning utility's executives or

lobbyists are also among the elite group of President Bush's fundraising

Pioneers, having raised $100,000 each toward his 2004 campaign.

of FirstEnergy also is a Pioneer, as is Rose of Burlington

Northern, which makes money mining and shipping coal. son of

Union Pacific, another coal miner and shipper, has done even better: he has

raised over $200,000.

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