Senate votes to protect Americans from mercury and other toxic air pollution

“Today, a bipartisan group of 53 Senators voted against S. J. Res 37. That means they voted for cleaner, healthier, safer air for all Americans. They voted to let EPA do its job, and reduce the mercury and other toxic pollution emitted from power plants into the air we breathe. They voted to save up to 11,000 lives each year, to help prevent neurological damage in babies, and to make it safer to eat fish caught in American waters.

S.J. Res 37 would not only have killed the new Mercury and Air Toxics Standards for power plants, it would also have prevented EPA from issuing a rule that is “substantially the same” in the future. It was a “scorched earth” policy that would have left us all with scorched lungs. We should all be grateful to the 53 Senators from both parties who stopped this unconscionable attack on cleaner, healthier air for America’s children.”

Fred Krupp, President of Environmental Defense Fund