Environmental groups rip Ohio power plants
Dayton Daily News, Ohio --Aug. 27--DAYTON, Ohio
Aug. 27--DAYTON, Ohio -- Ohio's coal-fired power plants are among the worst polluters in the nation, spewing millions of pounds of toxic chemicals into the air, according to a report released Thursday by environmental groups.
"This is taking a mighty toll on our health," said Jack Shaner of
the Ohio Environmental Council.
The report was prepared by Clear The Air, a campaign by the National
Environmental Trust.
The Bush administration has produced new rules to reduce smokestack emission
of mercury, but the environmental groups say the new rules don't control other
dangerous substances such as arsenic, lead, chromium and dioxin.
Public health officials say air pollution can lead to health problems such as
heart attacks, asthma and cancer.
"Dioxin is a carcinogen," said George Leikauf, a toxicologist and
pulmonary biologist at the University of Cincinnati. "Power plants are the
major source of the pollution. We have a large problem here."
The U.S. EPA's new smokestack rules won't become final until March 2005.
"The EPA has more than enough time to rewrite them," said John
Stanton, vice president of the National Environmental Trust. "The current
regulations are clear violations of the Clean Air Act."
The new U.S. EPA regulations are called New Source Review, and they say that
if utilities increase production capacity at a plant, pollution control
technology must be installed as well.
"The only remedy is enforcement, but this administration has not
enforced the Clean Air Act for three years," Stanton said.
Shaner said some plants in other parts of the country have installed existing
technology to reduce emissions.
"There are cleaner plants," he said. "It can be done."
ON THE INTERNET: For more on the report, go to Clear The Air's Web site at
http://cta.policy.net/
-----
To see more of the Dayton Daily News, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to
http://www.daytondailynews.com .
(c) 2004, Dayton Daily News, Ohio. Distributed by Knight
Ridder/Tribune Business News. For information on republishing this content,
contact us at (800) 661-2511 (U.S.), (213) 237-4914 (worldwide), fax (213)
237-6515, or e-mail reprints@krtinfo.com.