Statement on EPA’s Proposed Mercury and Air Toxics Standards

CAP President and CEO Commends Agency

By John Podesta | March 16, 2011

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John D. Podesta, President and CEO of the Center for American Progress, issued the following statement today applauding the Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed limits on mercury and other dangerous toxic emissions from power plants:

Reducing mercury and other toxic air pollutants is a prescription for healthier babies, children, and seniors. It is an antidote for premature deaths and the soaring costs from medical treatment and missed work days caused by illnesses linked to these poisons. A mandate to slash these toxic airborne pollutants will drive utilities to develop and deploy innovative clean energy technologies.

Many dirty utilities and big coal companies will again falsely claim that protecting people from poison in the air will harm their balance sheets. Clean air safeguards prescribed over the past 40 years left few traces of job losses or economic hardship. In fact, past air pollution protections yielded $20 in benefits for every $1 in cost, a return on investment that would make Warren Buffett proud.

President Barack Obama and EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson deserve great credit for reviving this cure for cancer-causing pollutants from dirty utilities while simultaneously boosting clean tech innovation and American competitiveness.

To speak to John D. Podesta or Daniel J. Weiss regarding the proposed limits on mercury and other power plant emissions, please contact Christina DiPasquale at 202.481.8181 or cdipasquale@americanprogress.org.