THAT'S WHAT THE DECISION BY FIVE OF THE NINE HENCHMEN ON THE $#*^#!%$! "SUPREME COURT" DID...ORDERED THE CONTINUING, DAILY POISONING OF EVERY MAN, WOMAN, CHILD, AND DEVELOPING FETUS IN AMERICA.
"Mercury is highly toxic in the air and the water, and it builds up through the food chain.
It is particularly dangerous for a pregnant woman and her developing baby.
Other toxic pollutants are believed to trigger asthma attacks.
The Clinton administration completed the study and prepared the rules, but they were blocked during the George W. Bush administration.
Lawyers for the coal and electric power industries went to court, alleging the costs of the new rule would vastly outweigh the benefits. They said the rules would cost $9.5 billion a year, while the benefit of removing mercury from the air would be only $5 million a year.
The EPA called this a false comparison. The agency said the rules would save 11,000 lives per year. And if all the impact of all the hazardous pollutants were considered, the EPA said the cleaner air would yield public health benefits of more than $37 billion a year.
Last year, a U.S. appeals court here upheld the regulations as justified under the law.
THE EPA HAS NEVER REALLY GONE AFTER THE ONES MOST RESPONSIBLE FOR PUMPING MERCURY AND OTHER TOXINS INTO OUR AIR AND WATER AND SOIL (AND THEREBY FOOD), BUT THEY COULD HAVE...EXCEPT FOR ONE THING...
THE GOP, THAT GRAND OLD REPUBLICAN PARTY IS STILL PLAYING FAVORITE WHORE TO WALL STREET, AND WHEN THOSE OLD TOXIC "POWER PLANTS" JUST WHINED AND CRIED ABOUT HOW MUCH IT WOULD COST THEM TO CLEAN UP THEIR FILTHY, LETHAL PLANTS, WELL, THE GOP BOYS AND SOME OF THE JACKASS BUNCH ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE AISLE HELPED MAKE IT POSSIBLE FOR THEM TO NEVER HAVE TO CLEAN UP ANYTHING.
SCREW THE ENVIRONMENT, TO HELL WITH HOW MANY PEOPLE DEVELOP NEUROLOGICAL DISORDERS (LIKE CEREBRAL PALSY, BY THE WAY), HOW MANY BABIES ARE BORN ALREADY SUFFERING FROM MERCURY POISONING IN UTERO, OR HOW MANY OF US ARE WARNED TO STAY INDOORS DURING BAD "AIR QUALITY" DAYS WHEN THE HAZE IS AS THICK AS PEA SOUP, THE COLOR OF SULPHUR AND ACCUMULATES ON OUR VEHICLES, PLAYGROUNDS, SKIN AND GARDENS!
IF CONGRESS HADN'T GOTTEN INVOLVED WITH MICROMANAGING WHO AND WHEN AND WHERE AND WHAT THE EPA REGULATES TO KEEP CORPORATIONS FROM KILLING ALL OF US, WE MIGHT STAND A FIGHTING CHANCE.
A PROPER EPA JUST MIGHT HAVE SLAPPED A BAZILLION DOLLAR FINE ON EVERY LAZY, SORRY COAL-BURNING CHILD-KILLER OUT THERE, BUT NO, OH NO, CAN'T HAVE THE BIG CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTORS UPSET!
MUSTN'T CUT INTO THEIR PROFITS...BAD FOR THE MARKET!
THE ECONOMY COMES FIRST, NOT HUMAN HEALTH, NOT HUMAN LIVES!
IT'S FAR, FAR BETTER TO ALLOW THE MAJOR POLLUTERS TO KEEP CAUSING 11,000 OR MORE PREMATURE DEATHS EACH YEAR THAN TROUBLE THEM TO PUT A LID ON THEIR MURDER WEAPONS.
FOR THOSE WHO HAVE NOT BEEN INFORMED, HERE ARE JUST THE MAJOR PROBLEMS CAUSED BY THE LEVELS OF MERCURY IN OUR AIR:
FROM THE EPA!
Methylmercury effects
For fetuses, infants, and children, the primary health effect of methylmercury is impaired neurological development.
Methylmercury exposure in the womb can adversely affect a baby's growing brain and nervous system.
Impacts on cognitive thinking, memory, attention, language, and fine motor and visual spatial skills have been seen in children exposed to methylmercury in the womb.
Elemental mercury effects
Elemental (metallic) mercury primarily causes health effects when it is breathed as a vapor where it can be absorbed through the lungs.
These exposures can occur when elemental mercury is spilled or products that contain elemental mercury break and expose mercury to the air, particularly in warm or poorly-ventilated indoor spaces.
Symptoms include these: tremors;
emotional changes (e.g., mood swings, irritability, nervousness,
excessive shyness);
insomnia;
neuromuscular changes (such as weakness,muscle atrophy, twitching);
headaches;
disturbances in sensations;
changes in nerve responses;
performance deficits on tests of cognitive function.
At higher exposures there may be kidney effects, respiratory failure and death.
Effects of other mercury compounds (inorganic and organic)
High exposures to inorganic mercury may result in damage to the gastrointestinal tract, the nervous system, and the kidneys.
Both inorganic and organic mercury compounds are absorbed through the gastrointestinal tract and affect other systems via this route.
However, organic mercury compounds are more readily absorbed via ingestion than inorganic mercury compounds.
However, organic mercury compounds are more readily absorbed via ingestion than inorganic mercury compounds.
Symptoms of high exposures to inorganic mercury include: skin rashes and dermatitis; mood swings; memory loss; mental disturbances; and muscle weakness.
OF COURSE THE EPA GOES ON AND ON AND ON TO DOWNPLAY ALL THESE.WHY?
BECAUSE THE EPA KNOWS IT ISN'T ABOUT TO REALLY REGULATE EITHER JACK OR SQUAT!
THINK ABOUT THIS QUOTE:
"We've got to ask ourselves: how much clean air do we
need?" - Lee Iacocca
YOU REALLY OUGHT TO READ THE WALL STREET JOURNAL'S CROWING, PROUD, HAPPY ACCOUNT OF THE "BIG WINS" FOR CORPORATE AMERICA THIS WEEK!
THE WSJ IS PLEASED AS PUNCH THAT THE "JUSTICES" STUCK IT TO EVERYONE WHO STOOD TO BENEFIT FROM THE REGULATIONS ON HOW MUCH POISON AND WHICH TYPES THEY CAN KEEP RIGHT ON PUMPING OUT THOSE OUTDATED WORTHLESS SMOKESTACKS ONTO THE UNSUSPECTING, KEPT-IN-THE-DARK SERF CLASS HERE.
AFTER ALL, 11,000 DEATHS A YEAR AND UNTOLD NUMBERS OF CHRONICALLY ILL FROM EMISSIONS FROM THOSE GOOD OLD BOYS WHO BURN COAL IS A DROP IN THE BUCKET, RIGHT?
SURELY AMERICAN MOTHERS DON'T MIND SACRIFICING THEIR OFFSPRING ON THE ALTAR OF COAL-BURNING POWER PLANTS AND OTHER BUSINESSES THAT USE A LOT OF MERCURY IN MANUFACTURING, OR EMIT MERCURY AS A RESULT OF THAT!
AMERICAN WOMEN CAN HAVE MORE KIDS TO GROW UP AND REPLACE THOSE WORKING CLASS STIFFS ERASED BY TOXIC CHEMICALS, HEAVY METALS AND WHATEVER ELSE THE BELOVED COAL-BURNERS WANT TO SEND DOWN ON TOP OF US!
WALL STREET AND ITS "JOURNAL" ARE ALL DANCING IN THE STREETS TONIGHT!
"Monday’s victory [SEE THAT? VICTORY!] for the utility industry marked a high point for business in a term that produced mixed results for corporations.
Big health-care companies were relieved by last week’s Affordable Care Act ruling, and corporations made incremental advances in other areas, such as by winning time limits on certain whistleblower lawsuits.
But companies lost notable rulings on employment discrimination and came up short in a fair-housing case where lenders and insurers hoped to limit lawsuits alleging their practices had the effect of disadvantaging minorities.
[HOW MUCH CLEARER CAN THIS MESSAGE BE FOR YOU, FOLKS? CORPORATIONS LOST BECAUSE THEY CAN'T DISCRIMINATE QUITE AS MUCH AS THEY USED TO?
DO YOU UNDERSTAND HOW BLATANT THAT IS? THEY WERE DISCRIMINATING AND ADMIT IT, BECAUSE NOW THEY'RE SAYING THEY'VE "LOST NOTABLE RULINGS"!]
The EPA adopted the mercury rules in 2012, and they went into effect earlier this year. The agency concluded costs weren’t a relevant consideration when it was deciding whether to develop regulations.
Later, as it was writing the rule, the agency estimated an annual cost to the utility sector of $9.6 billion and public-health benefits of at least $37 billion.
Later, as it was writing the rule, the agency estimated an annual cost to the utility sector of $9.6 billion and public-health benefits of at least $37 billion.
[SO, THE BENEFIT TO THE REST OF US, THE SERFS, THE EVERYDAY PEOPLE
WOULD HAVE BEEN 4 TIMES MORE, AND BETTER FOR US, THAN THE COST THE POLLUTERS WOULD HAVE TO SPEND TO MAKE LIFE BETTER FOR THE VAST MAJORITY OF AMERICANS?
THE WSJ SEES THAT AS A GOOD TRADE-OFF, THAT THE COMPANIES SAVED $9 BILLION SINCE THEY WON'T HAVE TO CLEAN UP NOW, AND WE LOST $37 BILLION, AND OUR HEALTH, OR OUR LIVES?
YUP!
PAUSE A MOMENT AND REFLECT ON THAT, PLEASE.]
WOULD HAVE BEEN 4 TIMES MORE, AND BETTER FOR US, THAN THE COST THE POLLUTERS WOULD HAVE TO SPEND TO MAKE LIFE BETTER FOR THE VAST MAJORITY OF AMERICANS?
THE WSJ SEES THAT AS A GOOD TRADE-OFF, THAT THE COMPANIES SAVED $9 BILLION SINCE THEY WON'T HAVE TO CLEAN UP NOW, AND WE LOST $37 BILLION, AND OUR HEALTH, OR OUR LIVES?
YUP!
PAUSE A MOMENT AND REFLECT ON THAT, PLEASE.]
But Justice Scalia, writing for the court’s more-conservative justices, said the EPA “must consider cost—including, most importantly, cost of compliance—before deciding whether regulation is appropriate and necessary.”
[LET THAT REALLY SINK IN... MOST IMPORTANT IS COST OF COMPLIANCE!
NOT YOU,. NOT ME, NOT OUR CHILDREN, BUT THE COST TO THE DAMNED COMPANIES! SCALIA (IS HE A COMMUNIST OR FASCIST, I FORGET) DEMANDS THAT COST COMES BEFORE HUMAN HEALTH. ]
[LET THAT REALLY SINK IN... MOST IMPORTANT IS COST OF COMPLIANCE!
NOT YOU,. NOT ME, NOT OUR CHILDREN, BUT THE COST TO THE DAMNED COMPANIES! SCALIA (IS HE A COMMUNIST OR FASCIST, I FORGET) DEMANDS THAT COST COMES BEFORE HUMAN HEALTH. ]
Joining the court’s majority decision were Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Anthony Kennedy, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito.
The mercury rules were drawn from a different section of the Clean Air Act than other pending Obama administration environmental rules, including the EPA’s proposed carbon rules for power plants.
Coal-mining company Murray Energy, which has sued EPA over its carbon rules, said Monday’s ruling indicates the agency also wouldn’t be able to justify the costs of the carbon regulation, “which similarly imposes billions of dollars in costs, with no discernible environmental benefit whatsoever.”
Duke Energy Corp., of Charlotte, N.C., said it doesn’t plan to change its current program to comply with the mercury limits. The company, which has closed coal-fired units at four sites since 2013 and is slated to shutter four more this year, noted that it will take time to get a new decision on costs from the lower court.
Justice Elena Kagan, writing for the dissenters, said the EPA acted reasonably, and she criticized the court for what she said was micromanaging of the regulatory process. At later stages of the rule making, the agency “took costs into account again and again,” she wrote.
Joining her were Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer and Sonia Sotomayor.
The EPA indicated it would seek to propose rules that would survive legal scrutiny.
“EPA remains committed to ensuring that appropriate standards are in place to protect the public from the significant amount of toxic emissions from coal and oil-fired electric utilities and continue reducing the toxic pollution from these facilities,” spokeswoman Melissa Harrison said.
[THAT CAN BE PROVEN QUITE EASILY NOT TO BE TRUE! THE EPA HAS NOT REGULATED MUCH WHEN IT COMES TO CRACKING DOWN ON TOXIC EMISSIONS, PERIOD!]
[THAT CAN BE PROVEN QUITE EASILY NOT TO BE TRUE! THE EPA HAS NOT REGULATED MUCH WHEN IT COMES TO CRACKING DOWN ON TOXIC EMISSIONS, PERIOD!]
A group of 21 states, including ones that rely heavily on coal for electricity, and industry groups challenged the EPA rules at the Supreme Court.
[COULD THOSE BE THE ONES WITH HUGE COAL MINES, THOSE 21 STATES?]
[COULD THOSE BE THE ONES WITH HUGE COAL MINES, THOSE 21 STATES?]
“I think it sends a big message to the overreach by federal agencies, and the EPA in particular, that you can’t simply carte blanche impose regulations on jobs providers without balancing cost and benefits,” Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette, a Republican, said in an interview.
The EPA says power plants are the single-largest source of U.S. emissions of mercury, a neurotoxicant that can be particularly harmful to children and unborn babies.
Some utilities received a time extension before having to comply with the rules, and they will now likely have an additional reprieve because of Monday’s ruling.
The decision could also give utilities that have mothballed older coal-fired power plants the flexibility to bring them back online.
Of the approximately 600 power plants the EPA has been regulating under the rule, about 460 of those are coal-fired plants.
Some utilities received a time extension before having to comply with the rules, and they will now likely have an additional reprieve because of Monday’s ruling.
The decision could also give utilities that have mothballed older coal-fired power plants the flexibility to bring them back online.
Of the approximately 600 power plants the EPA has been regulating under the rule, about 460 of those are coal-fired plants.
The EPA has granted a one-year extension to about 35% of those plants, according to a March survey by the National Association of Clean Air Agencies
[CLEAN AIR? CLEAN AIR? WE DON'T NEED NO STINKING CLEAN AIR! WE NEED CORPORATE PROFITS, A BOOMING STOCK MARKET!]
[CLEAN AIR? CLEAN AIR? WE DON'T NEED NO STINKING CLEAN AIR! WE NEED CORPORATE PROFITS, A BOOMING STOCK MARKET!]
U.S. utilities in recent years have been shifting away from coal, the most polluting electricity source according to the EPA, propelled by low natural-gas prices and tougher environmental regulations, especially the mercury rule.
[LOWER ENERGY COSTS VIA NATURAL GAS? PERISH THE VERY THOUGHT!
AMERICANS HAVE TO PAY HIGH ENERGY BILLS! IT'S JUST GOOD BUSINESS!]
Government efforts to craft mercury regulations date back more than a decade, prompted by congressional amendments to the Clean Air Act in 1990, and have spanned three presidential administrations.
ALL of the efforts have been delayed by litigation and legislative battles.
YES, ALL, EVERY ATTEMPT!
MAYBE FEW SEE THINGS THE WAY I DO...
[LOWER ENERGY COSTS VIA NATURAL GAS? PERISH THE VERY THOUGHT!
AMERICANS HAVE TO PAY HIGH ENERGY BILLS! IT'S JUST GOOD BUSINESS!]
Government efforts to craft mercury regulations date back more than a decade, prompted by congressional amendments to the Clean Air Act in 1990, and have spanned three presidential administrations.
ALL of the efforts have been delayed by litigation and legislative battles.
YES, ALL, EVERY ATTEMPT!
MAYBE FEW SEE THINGS THE WAY I DO...
I SEE OUR CHILDREN AND GRANDCHILDREN AS OUR HOPE.
I THINK THEY DESERVE CLEAN AIR, A NON-TOXIC START IN LIFE.
IT WOULD BE WONDERFUL TO KNOW THAT, WHEN YOUNGEST GRANDSON RUNS OUT IN THE RAIN TO CATCH RAINDROPS ON HIS TONGUE, HE ISN'T BEING POISONED BY ANYTHING.
IT WOULD BE WONDERFUL TO KNOW THAT, WHEN YOUNGEST GRANDSON RUNS OUT IN THE RAIN TO CATCH RAINDROPS ON HIS TONGUE, HE ISN'T BEING POISONED BY ANYTHING.
AND I'D LIKE TO LOOK OUT JUST ONCE MORE AND SEE THE SAME SORT OF SKY THAT I USED TO SEE...BLUE, CLEAR, NO HAZE.
I WISH YOU COULD HAVE ALL SEEN THOSE SKIES...THEY WERE INCREDIBLE!
I WISH YOU COULD HAVE ALL SEEN THOSE SKIES...THEY WERE INCREDIBLE!
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