The day before Thanksgiving, the Bush administration announced it is changing the rule that governs the emission of the toxic metal mercury and other pollutants from utility-owned power plants. This rule change will – of course – allow coal-fired plants to keep belching 48 tons of mercury every year. Check the timing on this. Not the fact that it was announced Thanksgiving eve, that’s a given, but that this gift from the Bush EPA to the utilities came a week after Congress refused to pass the pork-laden energy bill. Corporate contributors to the Bush campaign will get their payoffs, if not from Congress, then by executive fiat.
Yes, the rules are changing and it’s not just the rules about how much mercury can be pumped into the air. The New Rules instituted by the Bush administration – whatever the issue of the day might be – are based on the Golden Rule, as in “He who has the gold, rules.”
George Bush and his cronies are not anti-environment for ideological reasons; they’re anti-environment because while utilities can make a decent profit and still protect the environment, those same utilities can make an obscene profit by disregarding the environment and then kick some back to the re-election campaign. The New Rules, the Bush Rules, say nothing may be allowed to impede maximum profitability for campaign contributors, so environmental protection goes out the window.
What does that mean for mercury pollution? If you ask that question, if you care about the answer, you’re still playing by the Old Rules. For the sake of nostalgia, let’s consider the effects of mercury pollution. Forty-one states have advisories warning people to limit their consumption of fish because of mercury pollution. Children and women of childbearing age are warned not to eat any fish at all. Every lake in Vermont is contaminated with mercury, even though Vermont produces no mercury pollution.
The Washington Post yesterday carried a front-page story on the new mercury rule. Although it discussed various tons of mercury emissions and fish consumption advisories, the story never got around to explaining how mercury is harmful to human beings. The Washington Post is in transition from the Old Rules to the New. It prints a bit of news about pollution, but nothing about human health effects, because that’s passe, that’s Old Rules. The New Rules don’t care if people get sick and die, as long as the profits get recorded.
What the Washington Post didn’t report is that mercury poisons the central nervous system. Children exposed to mercury in the womb or at an early age have lower IQs, attention deficits, poor memories and cognitive abilities, poor eyesight and motor skills. Adults exposed to mercury can have higher rates of heart disease, higher blood pressure and reduced fertility. Only people who live by the Old Rules care about this, or about other health-related issues. Just look at the Medicare bill.
The Washington Post does mention that the technology to prevent the release of mercury exists. The Bush EPA will not force power plants to install the technology because it would cost money and the New Rules say nothing can impede the flow of money.
Today, the National Environmental Trust and the U.S. Public Interest Research Group released a report on mercury pollution. It lists which power plants in which states emit how much mercury. It names the names and gives the numbers. It is very Old Rules. It is Old Rules because it is futile to think that naming names and exposing culpability will make any Bush administration official care in the least about mercury pollution.
The National Environmental Trust and US PIRG are non-partisan; they think issues are more important than party politics. This too, is an Old Rule. The New Rules say everything is partisan and you either work for the Republican Party and the corporations or you get crushed.
The rules have changed in America and everyone who is not pro-Republican and pro-corporation had better wake up to that fact or they too, will be crushed.
The New Rules
The day before Thanksgiving, the Bush administration announced it is changing the rule that governs the emission of the toxic metal mercury and other pollutants from utility-owned power plants. This rule change will – of course – allow coal-fired plants to keep belching 48 tons of mercury every year. Check the timing on this. Not the fact that it was announced Thanksgiving eve, that’s a given, but that this gift from the Bush EPA to the utilities came a week after Congress refused to pass the pork-laden energy bill. Corporate contributors to the Bush campaign will get their payoffs, if not from Congress, then by executive fiat.
Yes, the rules are changing and it’s not just the rules about how much mercury can be pumped into the air. The New Rules instituted by the Bush administration – whatever the issue of the day might be – are based on the Golden Rule, as in “He who has the gold, rules.”
George Bush and his cronies are not anti-environment for ideological reasons; they’re anti-environment because while utilities can make a decent profit and still protect the environment, those same utilities can make an obscene profit by disregarding the environment and then kick some back to the re-election campaign. The New Rules, the Bush Rules, say nothing may be allowed to impede maximum profitability for campaign contributors, so environmental protection goes out the window.
What does that mean for mercury pollution? If you ask that question, if you care about the answer, you’re still playing by the Old Rules. For the sake of nostalgia, let’s consider the effects of mercury pollution. Forty-one states have advisories warning people to limit their consumption of fish because of mercury pollution. Children and women of childbearing age are warned not to eat any fish at all. Every lake in Vermont is contaminated with mercury, even though Vermont produces no mercury pollution.
The Washington Post yesterday carried a front-page story on the new mercury rule. Although it discussed various tons of mercury emissions and fish consumption advisories, the story never got around to explaining how mercury is harmful to human beings. The Washington Post is in transition from the Old Rules to the New. It prints a bit of news about pollution, but nothing about human health effects, because that’s passe, that’s Old Rules. The New Rules don’t care if people get sick and die, as long as the profits get recorded.
What the Washington Post didn’t report is that mercury poisons the central nervous system. Children exposed to mercury in the womb or at an early age have lower IQs, attention deficits, poor memories and cognitive abilities, poor eyesight and motor skills. Adults exposed to mercury can have higher rates of heart disease, higher blood pressure and reduced fertility. Only people who live by the Old Rules care about this, or about other health-related issues. Just look at the Medicare bill.
The Washington Post does mention that the technology to prevent the release of mercury exists. The Bush EPA will not force power plants to install the technology because it would cost money and the New Rules say nothing can impede the flow of money.
Today, the National Environmental Trust and the U.S. Public Interest Research Group released a report on mercury pollution. It lists which power plants in which states emit how much mercury. It names the names and gives the numbers. It is very Old Rules. It is Old Rules because it is futile to think that naming names and exposing culpability will make any Bush administration official care in the least about mercury pollution.
The National Environmental Trust and US PIRG are non-partisan; they think issues are more important than party politics. This too, is an Old Rule. The New Rules say everything is partisan and you either work for the Republican Party and the corporations or you get crushed.
The rules have changed in America and everyone who is not pro-Republican and pro-corporation had better wake up to that fact or they too, will be crushed.