A few extra dimensional chess
The EPA announced that all US power plants will have to meet best available technology standards for mercury emissions. Mercury, like other heavy metals is insidious and mercury emissions lead to deaths and dumbness (the later especially for the young) so as Dave Roberts puts it, this is a big deal with major benefits.
But it also is a backdoor way to close down the oldest and the worst of the coal burners that were grandfathered in to the Clean Air Act, and the fuse is short, four years. Eli is quite sour about Obama, but this might be a reason to vote for him
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This is A Good Thing.
"Eli is quite sour about Obama, but this might be a reason to vote for him"
Trouble is if you do not vote for the sane Republican, one of the insane ones will get in.
Back in the 1980's it was predicted by biologists (my colleagues) that the legion of new coal fired power plants proposed in Texas would result in harmful accumulations of mercury in fish in East Texas reservoirs and streams. This quickly came to pass.
http://www.dshs.state.tx.us/seafood/survey.shtm#advisory
The loss to the East Texas tourism economy was undoubtedly great, but that part of the State is one where residents have always consumed high amounts of locally caught fish. A recent study found high mercury levels in the blood of some of these residents.
http://www.swcpeh.org/files/pdf/swcpeh_health-implications-mercury-et-lakes.pdf
This is a good day.
But, but ... I've been reading the Heartland Environment & Climate News, something one should only do in small does, but I didn't.
They have assured their readers many times that there is no problem with mercury, except maybe in CFLs. Arsenic is OK , too.
So is lead, except in one make of reusable polypropolene bags, proving that reusable bags are a bad idea, I guess.
I'm sure that the backers for astrophysicist Willie Soon's blurb on mercury were left scratching their heads when he published on mercury with a small 'm', not Mercury with a capital 'M'.
Let us not confuse with multi-dimensional chess the mere allowance of the functioning of established, legitimate life-saving aspects of government.
The EPA address in the article leads to this revelation: "These standards are long overdue. In 2000, after years of study, EPA issued a scientific and legal determination that it was “appropriate and necessary” to control mercury emissions from power plants. The prior administration finalized a rule to cut mercury pollution from power plants, but the D.C. Circuit struck the rule down and required EPA to develop standards that follow the law and the science in order to protect human health and the environment."
Sure, the BushCo may have been slow walkin' this wonderful occurrence but it was hardly initiated by Obama. One might ask: "what took him another 3 years?"
John Puma
John Mashey, you have a lot to answer for. I followed your Heartland link and was immediately radicalised, to the extent that Lee's manifesto started making a weird kind of sense - see this story. Durn it! I think I'll go out and shoot me some dinner - or maybe just shoot me. Why can't a perfectly reasonable maniac get a fair hearing on Discovery Channel these days? Bah. Humbug.
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