Americans simply “are not going to take it anymore,” as the character Howard Beale bellowed in the classic movie, “Network”. Environmental activists and 165,000 citizens nationwide have risen up to declare they are supporting a new regulation proposed last April by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that would regulate the toxic pollution that enters the U.S. water supply as a result of power plant operations.
The public comment period for EPA’s “Proposed Effluent Limitations Guidelines and Standards for the Steam Electric Power Generating Point Source (News - Alert) Category,” closed this week on September 20. Now, Americans are awaiting the results.
The Environmental Protection Agency’s own data reveal, more than half of all toxic water pollution in the country comes from power plants—which discharge more than five billion pounds of toxic contaminants into U.S. rivers, lakes, and streams each year. That’s more than the next nine top-polluting industries, combined.
These discharges have degraded 399 water bodies around the country that provide drinking water to local communities, and 40 percent of coal plants discharge within five miles of a drinking water intake.
This is all too much to swallow—literally—for such groups as Clean Water Action, Earthjustice, Environmental Integrity Project, Waterkeeper Alliance, and Sierra Club, which have mobilized Americans nationwide at rallies, public hearings, and in face-to-face meetings to support the strong the strongest standard possible.
“Coal plant pollution is not a victimless crime. Americans who drink the polluted water or eat contaminated fish can suffer lowered IQs, cancer, and an inventory of other devastating health problems,” wrote Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., president of Waterkeeper Alliance; along with Mary Anne Hitt, director of the Sierra Club's Beyond Coal campaign, in a recent Huffington Post (News - Alert) blog, adding, “Because the EPA hasn't acted for the last 31years, Waterkeeper Alliance, … Sierra Club and other partner organizations have taken legal action to stop illegal contamination of groundwater and surface water at several coal-fired power plants. Unfortunately, the lack of regulations makes it hard to protect the public.”
Photo courtesy of the Waterkeeper Alliance
They note that, “The Clean Water Act is one of our nation's greatest statutory achievements. Thanks to this landmark legislation, our rivers are no longer catching on fire, and our waterways are safer and healthier than they were decades ago.
“We have suffered enough coal industry abuses—from the destruction of mountains to the poisoning of our air and water to the cataclysmic discharges of carbon that have brought us to the brink of climate chaos Armageddon,” the two activists warn. “It's time for the coal barons to obey the laws that apply to every other American and eliminate industry's toxic discharges altogether.”
Diluting the Rule’s Potency?
The activists worry that the federal agency will cave in to energy industry pressure and pass a diluted version of the regulation.
They say that EPA found that readily available, affordable technologies can be used to virtually eliminate toxic pollution from power plants, but this will only happen if the agency selects the most stringent standards.
“The strongest power plant rules are especially important to protect the Great Lakes, where mercury is the primary cause of fish consumption advisories,” said Lyman Welch, Water Quality Program Director for the Alliance for the Great Lakes.
"It is time to hold the coal industry accountable for cleaning up this pollution. Americans deserve —and the law demands— commonsense safeguards that protect downstream communities and our watersheds from dangerous heavy metals," said Jennifer Duggan, managing attorney, Environmental Integrity Project. "Affordable treatment technologies are available to eliminate toxic discharges for power plants and are already in use at some plants. There is no excuse for further delay."
Edited by Rachel Ramsey