PennFuture Launches Legislative Campaign with ProtectBabies.org Website and Posters

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A F COMCAST-SPECTACOR DISSON LOGO COMCAST-SPECTACOR DISSON LOGO Disson logo. (PRNewsFoto/Comcast-Spectacor)[TK] PHILADELPHIA, PA UNITED STATES 01/10/2006

    HARRISBURG, Pa., April 25 /PRNewswire/ -- Citizens for Pennsylvania's
 Future (PennFuture) today launched a statewide campaign to stop mercury
 pollution with graphics and a new website, "ProtectBabies.org," designed to
 show legislators and their constituents what's at stake in the fight to
 reduce mercury from Pennsylvania's coal-fired power plants.
     (Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20060425/PHTU035LOGO )
     "If the Pennsylvania legislature succeeds in killing the Department of
 Environment Protection's (DEP) state-specific rule that requires our
 coal-fired power plants to clean up 90 percent of their toxic mercury
 pollution by 2015, Pennsylvania's babies and their families will pay the
 price," said Jan Jarrett, vice president of PennFuture.
     The new PennFuture website, http://www.protectbabies.org, provides a
 one-stop home for citizens who want to take action on mercury. Thousands of
 posters and stickers with the website and the slogan, "Stop Mercury
 Pollution - Every Baby Deserves a Great Start," are being distributed
 across the state, with special attention to the districts of the sponsors
 of the legislation to kill DEP's planned mercury rule.
     The legislation in both the Pennsylvania House of Representatives (HB
 2610) and the Pennsylvania Senate (SB 1201) that would stop this important
 regulation comes after a 20-month process involving industry, public health
 experts, environmental groups and myriad other organizations and
 individuals that resulted in DEP's decision to propose a new mercury rule.
 The rule is necessary because the federal rule, which Pennsylvania and 13
 other states, four Native American tribes and five environmental groups
 have challenged in court as illegal, could result in little appreciable
 mercury clean-up in Pennsylvania. While the federal rule would take 24
 years to achieve less mercury clean-up, the Pennsylvania proposal would
 mean 90 percent clean-up by 2015.
     Toxic mercury pollution from power plants threatens the health of women
 and their babies. More than 600,000 women of childbearing age nationwide
 have amounts of mercury in their blood over the level set as safe by the
 Environmental Protection Agency and the National Academy of Sciences.
 Unsafe levels of mercury in mothers' blood and breast milk can interfere
 with the proper development of babies' brains and neurological systems and
 can lead to learning disabilities, attention-deficit disorder, problems
 with coordination, lowered IQs and even mental retardation.
     Pennsylvania power plants are the second biggest emitters of toxic
 mercury pollution in the country. The Fish and Boat Commission has issued
 advisories that cover every lake, river and stream in the state that warns
 people to limit eating fish caught here.
     The genesis of the Pennsylvania rule was in August 2004, when
 PennFuture formally filed a petition with the Pennsylvania Environmental
 Quality Board (EQB) on behalf of 10 public health, sporting, women's rights
 and environmental and conservation organizations asking the EQB to enact a
 regulation requiring coal-fired power plants to reduce their mercury
 emissions by 90 percent.
     Today more than 60 organizations including the Pennsylvania Federation
 of Sportsmen's Clubs, the Pennsylvania State Nurses Association, the
 Pennsylvania Parent Teacher Association, the Learning Disabilities
 Association and the Pennsylvania Council of Churches have joined in this
 vital effort.
     PennFuture is a statewide public interest membership organization that
 advances policies to protect and improve the state's environment and
 economy. PennFuture has offices in Harrisburg, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and
 West Chester.
 
 

SOURCE Citizens for Pennsylvania's Future (PennFuture)