LANSING, Mich. (WLNS)– Michigan Legal professional Common Dana Nessel introduced she is becoming a member of 17 different state attorneys normal to oppose the U.S. Environmental Safety Company’s (EPA) proposal to repeal the 2024 Mercury and Air Toxics Requirements (MATS) Rule and revert to outdated requirements that may hurt the atmosphere and public well being.
A information launch despatched to six Information explains that mercury and different hazardous air pollution disproportionately hurt individuals who reside close to coal- and oil-fired energy vegetation.
“Weakening clean air protections will force communities living downwind from power plants to breathe mercury and other dangerous pollutants that threaten our health and our environment,” Nessel mentioned. “I am proud to stand with my colleagues against unlawfully rolling back standards that protect Michiganders.”
Nessel says mercury is a potent neurotoxin that may pose a hazard to public well being, particularly for pregnant ladies and youngsters.
In response to Nessel, a pregnant individual’s consumption of mercury exposes the growing fetus to mercury and may trigger lifelong developmental harms and neurological issues equivalent to seizures, imaginative and prescient and listening to loss, or delayed growth.
The EPA states on its web site that mercury publicity may cause well being points, together with:
Metallic mercury primarily causes well being results when inhaled as a vapor, the place it may be absorbed via the lungs. Signs of extended and/or acute exposures embrace:
Tremors;
Emotional modifications (equivalent to temper swings, irritability, nervousness, extreme shyness);
Insomnia;
Neuromuscular modifications (equivalent to weak point, muscle atrophy, twitching);
Complications;
Disturbances in sensations;
Adjustments in nerve responses; and/or
Poor efficiency on checks of psychological perform.
Greater exposures might also trigger kidney results, respiratory failure and loss of life.
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Nessel says, “Mercury emissions from power plants are also a major contributor to mercury contamination in U.S. waterways. Mercury pollution in lakes and rivers harms the local commercial and recreation fishing economies, as well as tribal nations and indigenous peoples that rely on fishing for subsistence.”
