Maine Groups Support New Safeguards to Hold Polluters Accountable and Help Protect the Health of Maine People and Our Environment
Press Release
Natural Resources Council of Maine ~ Sierra Club Maine ~ Maine Interfaith Power and Light ~ Maine Physicians for Social Responsibility
Today, Maine people breathed a little easier after the Environmental Protection Agency and Obama Administration released a proposal to limit carbon pollution from new power plants, which is essential to improve the health of Maine kids and our environment.
“Every year, power plants dump more than two billion tons of dangerous carbon pollution and other pollutants into the air. The standard announced today will establish the first national limits on carbon pollution from new power plants and help protect people, kids, wildlife, and our environment from climate change and air pollution” said Lisa Pohlmann, executive director of the Natural Resources Council of Maine. “Maine’s senators and Congresspeople should support these rules and not put corporate polluters’s profits ahead of our health.”
Maine people are showing their support for the new carbon rules, saying the EPA is doing its job under the Clean Air Act — and holding power plants accountable for the amount of pollution they spew into the air.
“Maine families want the EPA to protect us from dangerous air pollution from power plants,” said Laurie Osher, board president of Maine Interfaith Power and Light. “Today’s announcement shows that America is working to do our part to reduce climate changing carbon pollution.”
“EPA’s proposal is a major step in moving our country toward a cleaner energy future, and Mainers will be counting on Senators Collins and Snowe to support these new health and efficiency standards on power plants,” said Glen Brand, director of Sierra Club Maine.
Doug Dransfield, MD, Physicians for Social Responsibility Maine Board member said, “In Maine almost 10% of adults and children have asthma, and air pollution makes that disease worse. Carbon emissions can cause those people personal suffering and results in both health care costs and lost income. Cleaner air is a benefit for Maine’s health and economy.”
In addition to strictly limiting industrial carbon pollution and protecting public health, many say these new standards will also spark innovation in clean technologies and create green jobs here in America.
Last June, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled EPA must regulate climate changing pollutants. The standards announced today will limit carbon pollution from new power plants. The EPA is also working to develop standards to cut carbon pollution from existing power plants, and is expected to issue a draft proposal for existing plants later this year or early next year.
