This should be one of those non-controversial, bi-partisan supported issues, that we can all agree is a good idea. We all breathe the same air, so we should all agree that clean air is good, dirty polluted air is bad, right? I mean, who wants poisonous levels of mercury in the air we all have to breathe?
Apparently the GOP and their bankrolling buddies in the coal industry, producing shady ads currently airing in Ohio find it very controversial. So far, they have spent about $1.2 million attacking Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) alone for voting to keep laws in place that reduce the levels of Mercury polluting the air.
The law in question boils down to this:
The rule requires coal power plants to significantly reduce hazardous metal emissions by 2015. The EPA says the regulation will prevent up to 11,000 premature deaths each year but will cost the industry billions of dollars in upgrades.
The EPA’s Mercury Air Toxics Standards for the first time will regulate heavy metal emissions at coal-fired power plants, which produce the largest amount of mercury in the air.
The EPA finalized the rule in December under the Clean Air Act, giving the industry until 2015 to comply. The agency says the rule will prevent each year up to 11,000 premature deaths, 4,700 heart attacks and more than 500,000 sick days. The EPA says the associated health benefits will be worth $37 billion to $90 billion a year.
But there also is a cost. The standards require power plants to install scrubbers, filters and injection units to capture mercury, arsenic and chronium as well as acid gases — all of which the EPA predicts will cost the industry $9.6 billion a year.
More below the squiggle...
The attack ads are funded by a 501(c)(4) (also known as a spooky PAC since it has ultimate secrecy, no accountability and no discloser requirements) called American Commitment. The group’s president, Phil Kerpen, is a former vice president at Americans for Prosperity, another conservative spooky PAC run by Karl Rove.
The ads are running in Ohio and are designed to be attack ads against Sherrod Brown, who is a current Senator in Ohio...you guess it, he's a Democrat.
The bill in question, which was to remove the new EPA law restricting mercury pollution, did end up failing, so the law will likely stay in place, at least for the time being. So basically they are still attacking him for voting to keep 11,000 people alive each year, preventing 4,700 heart attacks and all of us breathing a little easier. OMG what a monster.
The ads claim that he “voted to increase our electricity costs,” while the text on the screen reads: “Ohio: Electric bills will skyrocket" and "Price Increase will be Budget Busting"
In reality, the EPA’s assessment of the proposed rule predicts prices will rise by 3.1 percent — or $3 to $4 per month — in 2015 before the increase falls to less than 1 percent by 2030.
If you consider $3 or $4 per month "skyrocketing" or "budget busting", well then you might just be a Republican or delusion, possibly both.
For some reason, I cannot embed these videos, but they can be found here.