Don’t loosen pollution standards

Republican Congressman Randy Hultgren along with the Republican Congress signed the Train Act, and they are proud of it.

HR 2401 Train Act is an environmental train wreck. It badly weakens the EPA’s ability to limit mercury and other air toxins from power plants and other polluters. This assault on our health favors industrial polluters at the expense of American people’s health.

Mercury, a neurotoxin, in the air is responsible for permanently lowering a child’s IQ and damages the cardiovascular system and organs.

Coal-fired power plants, industrial boilers, cement kilns and cars are the primary sources of these pollutants. Would you live next door to this type of pollution? What next?

It is outrageous that a law that has been in place since 1970 and has a proven record will be eliminated to accommodate industrial toxic polluters.

The Clean Air Act is a vital public health safeguard. It is projected to prevent 230,000 premature deaths, 2.4 million asthma attacks and 200,000 heart attacks. Healthy people make a healthy economy that saves trillions of dollars in health benefits. Healthy air equals healthy economy.

The EPA scientists, not congressmen under the influence of lobbyists, must set pollution standards. Contact Hultgren at www.hultgren.house.gov and ask him what is he thinking. I want clean air and water.

Chrisi Vineyard

Oswego