[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 174 (Tuesday, November 25, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Pages S15959-S15960]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      AIR POLLUTION CLOSE TO HOME

  Mr. JEFFORDS. Mr. President, I would like to ask my colleagues and 
the American public some serious questions today--questions about air 
pollution and its impacts closer to home.
  Many of us listening today have children and grandchildren. How many 
of them have asthma? How many of us have taken children to the 
emergency room in the middle of the night, desperate to put a stop to 
their terrifying asthma attacks?
  How many of the Nation's growing number of asthmatic children have to 
carry inhalers to school, and wish they could run, play, and breathe 
freely like the other kids?
  How many Americans know young children who depend on their asthma 
inhalers to get safely through a simple game of baseball? Their asthma 
attacks could be some of the six hundred thousand caused by air 
pollution every year.
  How many of our own children or grandchildren yearn to play outdoors 
during school recess, only to have their teachers warn them the air is 
too unhealthy?
  How many of us have parents or siblings with emphysema? Or chronic 
lung disease? Reduced lung function, or lung cancer? Air pollution 
decreases lung function and causes asthma and asthma attacks, lung 
disease, emphysema, lung cancer, and heart problems.
  Do Americans ever worry that their own lives may be shortened by 
three or four years, just because the air is so dirty?
  Sixty thousand people die prematurely in this country every year 
because of air pollution. It's hard to believe, isn't it? Let me put it 
another way.
  Air pollution is responsible for more deaths than breast cancer, 
colon cancer, pancreatic cancer, skin cancer, prostate cancer, brain 
cancer, lymphoma, or leukemia.
  Half of the deaths caused by air pollution are due to power plants 
alone. In

[[Page S15960]]

fact, power plant-related deaths are so numerous that they far 
outnumber drunk driving fatalities in all but one of the 15 dirtiest 
States.
  Have Americans ever wondered how close they live to a powerplant? A 
Harvard University study showed that those who live near powerplants, 
who are often the poorer, less educated, uninsured, or minority 
populations, tend to be the most affected by pollution. Fortunately for 
some of us here, we are probably less vulnerable. We live further away, 
we live more comfortably, and we have access to quality health care.
  But does that sound like a fair and equitable distribution of the 
impacts of pollution? Hardly.
  Americans can experience pollution very differently. Although 58 
percent of white Americans live in counties violating Federal air 
pollution standards--an unacceptably high percentage--71 percent of 
African Americans do. Even worse, twice as many African Americans die 
from pollution than whites. Does that sound like a fair allocation of 
the impacts?
  If these appeals do not strike a chord, perhaps the economic impact 
of all these health problems will.
  I have mentioned before that over 30,000 premature deaths can be 
blamed on powerplant pollution every year. An EPA consulting firm using 
EPA methodology estimated that this loss of life hurts the U.S. economy 
by $170 billion each year. I ask unanimous consent that a table from 
this firm's recent report be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

  ESTIMATED ANNUAL HEALTH AND MORTALITY COSTS DUE TO PARTICULATE MATTER
                       POLLUTION FROM POWER PLANTS
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                     Attributable        Mean economic
          Health effect                incidence            impact
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mortality.......................              30,100    $170,000,000,000
Chronic Bronchitis..............              18,600       6,130,000,000
COPD--Hospitalization...........               3,320          41,000,000
Pneumonia--Hospitalization......               4,040          59,000,000
Asthma--Hospitalization.........               3,020          21,000,000
Cardiovascular--Hospitalization.               9,720         179,000,000
Asthma ER Visits................               7,160           2,000,000
Acute Bronchitis................               59,00           3,000,000
Upper Respiratory Symptoms......             679,000          16,000,000
Lower Respiratory Symptoms......             630,000          10,000,000
Asthma Attacks..................             603,000          25,000,000
Work Loss Days..................           5,130,000         543,000,000
Minor Restricted Activity Days..          26,300,000       1,270,000,000
                                 ---------------------------------------
    Total.......................                         178,000,000,000
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Source: Abt Associates, ``The Particulate-Related Health Benefits of
  Reducing Power Plant Emissions,'' October 2000.

  Mr. JEFFORDS. When you add in the economic impact of the tens of 
thousands of cases of asthma, bronchitis, pneumonia, heart problems, 
and lost work days, you reach a pretty staggering conclusion.
  Powerplant pollution alone is responsible for $178 billion in damage 
to our health and our economy each year, burdening our already taxed 
Medicare program and draining American productivity.
  There are even more ways in which air pollution hurts our way of 
life.
  How many Americans seek peace and enjoyment in our national parks, 
only to find the vistas clogged with haze? Do families go hiking in our 
national forests, only to reach bald stands of trees that have been 
killed by acid rain?
  I know many people from my State of Vermont and other States are avid 
skiers. Do they wonder why ski resorts must make their own snow more 
now than ever before, and why the ski season continues to come later 
each year? Global warming will threaten more than ski vacations in the 
very near future. Global warming and rising sea levels could mean life 
and death to those in our society who live on the margins.
  Do those listening today enjoy fishing trips with their families? Do 
their husbands and wives, daughters and sons, and grandchildren eat the 
fish that are caught?
  I am sorry to say that the fish being caught may contain unhealthy 
levels of mercury, likely due to dirty powerplants. Coal-fired 
powerplants emit mercury emissions. Mercury contaminates rainwater. It 
settles in waterways. It poisons fish. The contaminated fish create a 
health risk.
  Powerplants are responsible for one-third of all U.S. mercury 
emissions. Amazingly, they are currently unregulated.
  Are doctors warning pregnant women not to eat fish because mercury 
endangers fetuses? I hope they do, because one in 12 women in this 
country--that is 5 million women--have blood levels of mercury above 
EPA's safe health threshold. That means that over 300,000 newborns each 
year face increased risk of nervous system damage due to mercury 
exposure in the womb.
  How many Americans have children or grandchildren with learning 
disabilities, speech problems, attention disorders, loss of muscle 
coordination, memory problems, poor visual spatial skills, vision 
problems, hearing loss, seizures, mental retardation, or cerebral 
palsy? Have they ever wondered whether these disorders could be due to 
mercury exposure?
  We all saw what happened when a teen spilled less than a cup of 
mercury at Ballou High School in Southeast Washington. The metal is so 
toxic to humans that officials closed the school for over a month and 
evacuated 17 nearby homes.
  Do we feel comfortable knowing that U.S. powerplants emit 50 tons of 
toxic mercury into the air every year, so that it may fall in our 
backyards, in our grandchildren's sandboxes, and in the lakes where we 
fish?
  How many Americans depend on fishing in tainted waters for their 
livelihood? Chances are, they live in one of the 44 States in the 
Nation with fish advisories for mercury and other toxic pollutants. 
Chances are also likely that they are unaware that eating fish poisoned 
by mercury can damage their nervous system, cardiovascular system, 
kidneys, and immune system.
  Sadly, some ethnic groups and anglers who rely on high amounts of 
fish in their diets face two to five times the health risk. 
Unfortunately, these Americans may lack health insurance and access to 
proper medical care to deal with these problems.
  I have made an appeal today to my distinguished colleagues and to my 
fellow Americans. I know my colleagues are compassionate and they do 
everything possible to represent their constituents, their States, and 
the Nation well. I only hope they are moved by some of what I have said 
today to take swift and serious action to protect our air quality.
  Unfortunately, this administration's recent and upcoming actions to 
dismantle our clean air laws mean we all have to be vigilant. I will 
fight to protect those 60,000 lives and those 300,000 newborns. I will 
fight to bring down the $178 billion in costs to human health and to 
our precious environment. But Americans will need all of my colleagues' 
help, too.
  Senators should send a message to the President and EPA Administrator 
Leavitt right now. It needs to be loud, and it needs to be clear.
  The Clean Air Act says utility emissions of air toxics, especially 
mercury, have to come down drastically. EPA is already years behind in 
regulating. There should be no further delay.
  In the coming weeks, EPA is likely to propose a rule on mercury that 
is not legal or sanctioned by the Clean Air Act. Senators should tell 
Administrator Leavitt and the President that these ongoing assaults on 
air quality have to stop.
  I call on the President to do the right thing for once on clean air--
cut toxic air emissions from powerplants. Do it right. Do it as the law 
requires. And do it now.

                          ____________________