but, certainly our government, the EPA and so on, is doing something about this threat to our babies and children? well yes, of course they are. an EPA taskforce worked for two years to determine the best way to reduce mercury emissions, until it was disbanded and its recommendations tossed out in favor of a plan that was more to the liking of the power plant industry. in the drawing up of the admin's proposed new mercury rules, the lobbying and advocacy groups representing power and energy companies with a big stake in the outcome of the process were able to get their memos directly inserted into the proposed standards.
what really matters here, anyway? babies' brains? or the power, coal and chemical industries' bottom lines?
don't be silly. from Arianna, some startling information about just who is watching the henhouse: "It turns out that two of the key EPA regulators overseeing the development of the mercury guidelines, Jeff Holmstead and William Wehrum, used to represent utility industry clients before Bush tapped them for high-ranking posts in the EPA's Office of Air and Radiation. They were both attorneys at Latham and Watkins - a high-powered D.C. law firm that's been lobbying the administration to adopt the less stringent mercury standards."
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