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Home > Hydrogen News > Press Area > Environmental Integrity |
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May
5, 2004 News Release ... STUDY:
TOP U.S. AIR POLLUTERS ARE CLOSELY TIED TO As
Rules Are Relaxed, Sulfur Dioxide and Carbon Dioxide Pollution Go
Up; Key
States Include AL, FL,GA, IN, KS, MI,
MN, MO, NM, OH, PA, TN, TX, WV and WI. WASHINGTON,
D.C.///May 5, 2004///The
nation’s top polluters, as measured in terms of mercury, sulfur
dioxide (SO2)
and carbon dioxide (CO2)
emissions, are power plants owned by corporations that are tightly
allied with the Bush Administration in terms of both campaign
contributions and pollution policymaking, according to a new study
from two nonprofit and nonpartisan groups, the Environmental
Integrity Project (EIP) and Public Citizen.
The report finds that sulfur dioxide and carbon dioxide
pollution both rose from 2002 to 2003, posing higher risks to
Americans in terms of asthma attacks, lung ailments, premature death
and, in the case of mercury, heightened risk of neurological damage
to children. The
new report, entitled America’s
Dirtiest Power Plants: Plugged into the Bush Administration,
ranks the top 50 polluting power plants for three pollutants. While the power plants represent only about 5 percent of the
more than 1,000 such facilities in the U.S., the worst offenders
dominate the industry’s problem emissions: 43 percent of sulfur
dioxide pollution; 31 percent of CO2 pollution; and 43 percent of
mercury pollution. The report is available at http://www.environmentalintegrity.org
and http://www.WhiteHouseForSale.org. Since 1999, the 30 biggest utility companies owning the majority of the 89 dirtiest power plants examined in the study have poured $6.6 million into the coffers of the Bush presidential campaigns and the Republican National Committee (RNC). The companies and one of their trade associations, the Edison Electric Institute, have produced 10 “Rangers” and “Pioneers,” the Bush campaign super-fundraisers who collect at least $200,000 or $100,000, respectively, in earmarked contributions. The 30 companies hired at least 16 lobby or law firms with 23 Rangers or Pioneers between them who have raised at least $3.4 million for the Bush campaigns. These firms, together with the private utility industry’s trade association, met with Vice President Cheney’s energy task force at least 17 times to help formulate the country’s energy and pollution policies. Environmental
Integrity Project Director Eric Schaeffer said: “It is no coincidence that a wholesale assault on the Clean Air Act is
taking place today. This
attack is part of a campaign by a White House that understands what
the industry wants and is willing to do whatever it takes to make
that happen. No one should have any illusions about what is happening:
This is a well-connected industry that is absolutely intent
on preserving its ‘right’ to foul the air regardless of the
consequences for the American public.” Public Citizen’s
Congress Watch Director Frank Clemente said: “This
is a classic Washington ‘follow the money’ story. When the
electric utility industry faced strong government attempts to clean
up many of its aging coal-fired power plants, an action that could
cost the utilities billions, a few dozen corporations and their
trade association began an intensive campaign to derail the effort.
Their strategy: help elect an industry-friendly president, fill
federal regulatory posts with former utility executives and
lobbyists, and hire a small army of lobbyists and lawyers connected
to the new president to engineer regulatory changes that would
undermine the EPA’s Clean Air Act enforcement cases and weaken
rules that already were in the pipeline.” KEY
STUDY FINDINGS Other
highlights of the new EIP/Public Citizen report include the
following: §
Top polluters identified.
The study ranks the top 50 power plants for each of three
pollutant categories – mercury, sulfur dioxide and carbon dioxide.
According to the report, the three worst polluters in terms
of SO2 are: Bowen
(Georgia); W.H. Sammis (Ohio); and Keystone (Pennsylvania).
The three worst polluters in terms of CO2 are:
Martin Lake (Texas); Scherer (Georgia); and Bowen (Georgia).
The three worst polluters for mercury are:
Keystone (Pennsylvania); Mount Storm (West Virginia); and
Monticello (Texas). Of this group, only one – Mount Storm, which is operated by
Dominion Electric – has agreed to a comprehensive clean up of its
pollution, particularly sulfur dioxide. §
Key campaign contributors identified.
The study looked at the 89 plants that comprise the three top
50 lists and found that the majority of the plants were owned by 30
corporations. Those utility companies and their trade association
engaged in an intense fundraising campaign that netted $6.6 million
for Bush and the RNC since 1999. They also produced 10 Bush Rangers
and Pioneers who have between them raised at least $1.5 million
alone. §
Key pollution indicators are up.
EPA’s recently released 2003 emissions data shows that
power plant SO2 emissions increased by more than 400,000 tons
between 2002 and 2003, rising from 10.19 million tons to 10.59
million tons, or 3.9 percent. Carbon
dioxide emissions increased by roughly 47 million tons during the
same period, from 2.425 billion tons in 2002, to 2.472 billion tons
in 2003, a 2 percent increase.
Nitrogen oxide emissions from power plants declined 5.6
percent, dropping from 4.36 million to 4.12 million tons.
§
Over half of major polluters have been in hot
water.
Of the 89 plants that made it onto one or more of the
dirtiest plant lists, 47 – well over half – either have been
sued or placed under investigation by EPA for violating the Clean
Air Act’s New Source Review (NSR) requirement.
Of the top 50 SO2 emitters, 18 plants have been brought to
court and another 11 were placed under investigation by the
government. In August
2003, EPA relaxed the rules for New Source Review—exempting many
facilities from the law’s permit and pollution control
requirements—only to have a court stay the rules.
Nonetheless, the result of the Administration’s policy,
coupled with the program’s current status in legal limbo, is that
many of these companies have either had the cases against them
undermined or simply dropped by the Bush Administration.
§
Major harm inflicted by pollution.
Besides causing major environmental and property damage from acid
rain, sulfur dioxide also inflicts a serious health toll in terms of
asthma attacks and lung ailments.
According to EPA studies, pollution from power plants is
linked to heart and lung diseases which contribute to more than
20,000 premature deaths a year.
Mercury is a highly toxic metal that, once released into the
atmosphere, settles in lakes and rivers, where it moves up the food
chain to humans. In
2003, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found
that roughly 10 percent of American women carry mercury
concentrations at levels considered to put a fetus at risk to
neurological damage.
§ Major lobbying clout for polluters. Once President Bush was in office, many of the utilities that had helped to elect him hired lobbying and law firms with Rangers and Pioneers to lobby the government or defend them against the EPA’s pollution lawsuits. The 30 big companies on the three dirtiest plants lists hired at least 16 firms that between them have 23 different Rangers and Pioneers who raised at least $3.4 million for Bush’s campaigns. Their firms, together with the trade association for most coal-fired electric utility corporations (whose president is himself a Pioneer for 2000 and 2004), met with Vice President Cheney’s national energy task force at least 17 times to help formulate the country’s energy and pollution policies. The recommendations of that task force led directly to EPA’s reassessment and rewriting of the Clean Air Act rule that the utilities had been accused of violating. § Influence inside the Administration. After raising millions of dollars for his election in 2000, many of Bush’s biggest utility contributors were invited to join various transition teams, the committees that nominated officials to serve in the new administration. The 30 big utilities on the three dirtiest plants lists had four officials appointed to the Energy Department transition team. The new administration contained five of the industry’s former executives or lobbyists, who were given senior positions where they were responsible for formulating or enforcing clean air policies. And once a controversial rewrite of air policy was finalized in late 2003, two officials left the EPA and were immediately hired by electric utilities or lobbying firms that represented them. ABOUT
THE GROUPS Founded
by Eric Schaeffer, the Environmental Integrity Project (http://www.enviromentalintegrity.org)
is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization established in March of
2002 to advocate for more effective enforcement of environmental
laws. Schaeffer directed the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's
Office of Regulatory Enforcement until 2002, when he resigned after
publicly expressing his frustration with efforts of the Bush
Administration to weaken enforcement of the Clean Air Act and other
laws. Public
Citizen is a national, nonpartisan and nonprofit consumer advocacy
organization based in Washington, D.C. Public Citizen's Congress
Watch, which operates the www.WhiteHouseForSale.org
website, analyzes the influence of money in politics, among other
things. CONTACT:
Christine Kraly, for
EIP, (703) 276-3258 and ckraly@hastingsgroup.com; or Gordon Clark,
for Public Citizen, (202) 454-5104 and gclark@citizen.org.
EDITOR'S
NOTE:
A streaming audio recording of a related news event will be
available on the Web as of 3 p.m. EDT on May 5, 2004, at http://www.environmentalintegrity.org/. |