Rally for Clean Air Highlights President’s Poor Environmental
Record
Washington, D.C., April 17, 2002 –
Grandparents, parents and others representing a coalition of
polluted communities today rallied at the Lincoln Memorial
Reflecting Pool to outline the gravity of actions by President Bush
to weaken the Clean Air Act, endangering the health of young and
old alike. Activists donned surgical masks and carried signs saying
“Clean Air Now,” “Leave no child behind” and “The Bush Legacy:
Freedom for Polluters, Dirty Air for All.”
“Those who are most vulnerable to the effects of power plant
pollution are not being heard by The White House, while the ‘Ken
Lays’ of the world have ready access,” said Lori Ehrlich of
Marblehead, MA.
To give a voice to children, soccer moms, and the elderly,
Ehrlich created the “Grandfathers Against Grandfathering” petition
which calls upon the President to end the “grandfathered” exemption
from modern pollution control standards granted to power plants
built before the Clean Air Act in 1977. The petition is signed by
residents of all 50 states and 7 foreign countries.
Power plants are the largest industrial sources of a number of
pollutants, including soot-forming sulfur dioxide, smog-forming
nitrogen oxides, mercury which is a proven neurotoxin and carbon
dioxide, which contributes to global warming. These pollutants are
linked to thousands of premature deaths, increased asthma attacks,
emergency room visits due to respiratory distress, and children
exposed to mercury born with impaired and delayed development every
year.
Despite these facts, President Bush is attempting to gut
provisions in the Clean Air Act that would force the oldest,
dirtiest and least efficiency power plants to clean up. The
President’s “Clear Skies” initiative would actually increase the
amount of pollution from power plants at a 10-year delay.
“This administration is sending polluters a signal that they
have little reason to abide by the law,” explained Andrea Durbin,
National Campaigns Director of Greenpeace. “Waiting to enforce laws
already on the books, while blocking new efforts to clean up our
air is completely unacceptable.”
At the rally, Diana McKeown, Clean
Water Action’s Energy Coordinator in Minnesota, spoke about her
personal attachment to mercury pollution from power plants that
contaminates fish on the land of 10,000 lakes. “I have a five-year
old daughter and hope to have another child soon. I restrict my
diet to avoid mercury contaminated fish, but I shouldn’t have to
choose between brain food for my child and mercury.”
