Group: Industry could block anti-pollution efforts here

New rules reduce toxic emissions

Friday, September 16, 2011

By Don Hopey, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The Clean Air Act and new rules to reduce power plant air pollutants, including mercury and other air toxins, are under attack by industry -- and Pittsburgh's air quality is "in the bull's-eye," said Charles Connor, president and chief executive officer of the American Lung Association.

Mr. Connor made his comments Thursday during the Economic Club of Pittsburgh luncheon at the Omni William Penn hotel, Downtown.

Industry opposition to the new air pollution controls, if successful, could block continued improvements to air quality in southwestern Pennsylvania, he said.

"Pittsburgh's air has come a long way since the 1950s. It's made progress," Mr. Connor said. "But there's still work to be done. There's still a health risk around Pittsburgh."

The new rules and regulations would control power plant pollution transported to southwestern Pennsylvania, reduce mercury and other toxic air emissions by 91 percent, and establish health-based standards for smog and soot.

He said the Clean Air Act regulations already in place saved 160,000 lives last year nationwide and prevented 130,000 heart attacks and 1.7 million asthma attacks. The proposed air toxics rule would save an additional 17,000 lives a year.

Mr. Connor also cited the findings of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's eight-day December series, "Mapping Mortality," which documented 12,833 more deaths from heart and lung disease and lung cancer in 14 Western Pennsylvania counties from 2000-08 than would be expected based on national mortality rates for those diseases, which have been linked to air pollution.

During the talk, titled "Fighting for Air," which also is the slogan of the association's ongoing ad and lobbying campaign, Mr. Connor said industry opposition to new regulations is "outrageous and unconscionable but nothing new."

The same environmental arguments about regulations hurting jobs were made when the 1990 Clean Air Act amendments were passed by Congress and signed by President George H.W. Bush.

"It's baloney today and it's always been baloney," he said. "The opposition sets up false choices between jobs and clean air, but there's no credible evidence to support claims the Clean Air Act is the enemy of job creation or economic growth."

He said a Lung Association poll also found widespread public support for the tougher pollution standards, with 75 percent favoring tighter controls for smog, 72 percent saying they wanted the EPA rather than Congress to set air quality standards, 64 percent saying the new standards won't adversely effect jobs and 54 percent saying they will help create jobs.

"It's a great frustration for us when we hear that the EPA and the Clean Air Act are the entities killing jobs," Mr. Connor said. "The real facts are that the Clean Air Act has been saving lives for 41 years and it's much too important to be under attack and politicized."

He urged residents of southwestern Pennsylvania to contact their elected representatives in support of the new pollution control rules.

"We don't have to choose between jobs and healthy air," he said, "and to the extent that Pittsburgh can speak up, that will benefit the country as a whole."

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Duane Nichols, Cell- 304-216-5535.