By Joyce Kryszak
Buffalo, NY – A new study released Thursday by the New York Public Interest Research Group shows local power plants as some of the worst toxic polluters in the state.
And NYPIRG says a proposed new EPA rule would do nothing to change that.
If you live near Dunkirk or Tonawanda New York, the air you breathe has some incredibly deadly stuff in it. Arsenic and lead to name just a couple.
According to the report, the Dunkirk Steam Station ranks number one in the state for emissions of lead and second for arsenic.
The Huntley Generating Station in Tonawanda is third worst for arsenic, as well as the number one producer of chromium emissions.
Melinda Sobin is a regional advocate with NYPIRG. Sobin says the study quantifies what people already know.
"People know that there is air pollution coming from these power plants. They know that their children have asthma and developmental disorders and learning disabilities, and they know that the two things are linked," said Sobin. "And I think that people, especially here in Buffalo and Western New York, are very concerned about the power plants that are polluting their communities and causing their children to be so sick."
Statewide, power plants are emitting toxins by the tens of thousands of tons. And, according to environmentalists, a soon to be enacted EPA rule does nothing to stop or even curb these and about sixty other toxic emissions.
According to NYPIRG, the so-called Mercury Rule would actually weaken current limits on mercury emissions. And it fails to address any of the other power plant pollutants.
The rule also lets larger plants buy extra pollution credits from smaller plants that don't use all theirs.
Sobin said it's all part of an EPA rollback of the existing Clean Air Act.
"The new proposal essentially mirrors the Clear Skies Initiative, which was not passed through Congress because there was not enough support from the public for it. And because it was not passed through Congress, the EPA then put out an almost identical proposal , which is this Mercury Rule, which really undermines a lot of the Clean Air Act," said Sobin.
"This would be a major step in dismantling the Clean Air Act and undermining all of the progress we've made over the last few decades."
NYPIRG hopes to raise public awareness and pressure the EPA into dropping the Mercury Rule before it is finalized in March.