Georgia Makes List for Worst Power Plant Pollution, One of Dirty Dozen States in Mercury Pollution

EIP, November 19, 2008

GA, TX, PA, AL, IN, ND, OH, AR, KS, MO, NC and WI Are “Dirty Dozen” States With the Most Plants Generating Highest Mercury Emissions; Despite Some Improvements At Specific Plants, Overall Mercury Pollution Situation is Worse.

ATLANTA, GA.///NEWS ADVISORY///Deadly mercury pollution levels have risen in the United States since 2006 and Georgia is one of 12 states with the largest number of the 50 worst coal-fired power plants for such emissions, according to a major new report from the nonprofit Environmental Integrity Project (EIP).

The report rates the power plants both in terms of sheer mercury pollution and mercury pollution adjusted per kilowatt. The “dirty dozen” states with the most plants in the top 50 in terms of mercury pollution are Georgia, Texas, Pennsylvania, Alabama, Indiana, North Dakota, Ohio, Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, North Carolina and Wisconsin. The worst plant was found in Alabama. Texas accounts for five of the 10 dirtiest plants in terms of mercury emissions.

Mercury is a neurotoxin that causes impaired neurological development in fetuses, infants and children.

The EIP report discusses ways in which mercury removal is achievable. It also points out how the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has backed off from strict power plant mercury regulation in the past several years.

News event speakers will be: representatives of Southern Environmental Law Center, which operates in Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia; Environmental Integrity Project Counsel Ilan Levin, of the Austin, TX office; and representatives of PennFuture in Pennsylvania.

TO PARTICIPATE: You can join this live, phone-based Georgia news conference (with full, two-way Q&A) at 1 p.m. ET on November 20, 2008 by dialing 1 (800) 860-2442. Ask for the "GA mercury pollution report” news event.

CAN’T PARTICIPATE?: A streaming audio replay of the news event will be available on the Web at www.environmentalintegrity.org as of 6 p.m. ET on November 20, 2008.

CONTACT: Ailis Aaron Wolf, (703) 276-3265 or aawolf@hastingsgroup.com.

About EIP

The Environmental Integrity Project (http://www.environmentalintegrity.org) is a nonpartisan and nonprofit organization established in March 2002 to advocate for more effective enforcement of environmental laws. EIP was founded by Eric Schaeffer, who was director of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Regulatory Enforcement. He resigned in 2002 after publicly expressing his frustration with efforts of the Bush Administration to weaken enforcement of the Clean Air Act and other laws.

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