Environmental News: Media Center WASHINGTON (December 21, 2012)
– The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s long-overdue health
protections against mercury, toxic metals, acid gases and other
harmful pollution emitted by industrial boilers and incinerators
present a mixed blessing. The standards will save thousands of
lives every year, but the earlier provisions affecting cement
manufacturers and incinerators have been loosened, and that is
going in the wrong direction. “These standards are a mixed bag.
Americans will breathe cleaner air thanks to the EPA reducing
dangerous pollution from thousands of local boilers in
communities across the country,” said John Walke, director of
NRDC’s Clean Air Program. “This will save more than 8,000 lives
every year, an important public health achievement and better
than previous standards had promised. The agency, however, eased
standards in their final rules for cement manufacturers, which
is troubling and deserves further explanation.” Nearly 40
million Americans live