Governors, premiers insist on quality of life

Hurray for the six New England governors and the three Canadian Maritime premiers for letting the Bush administration know that they do not intend to accept our continued existence as the tailpipe of North America. They have put partisan politics aside in the passage of a resolution that lets George Bush and the Environmental Protection Agency know, in no uncertain terms, that they will not accept the weakening of regulations that govern air emissions from coal-fired power plants.

They are taking a stand to protect the health and environment of New Englanders and Maritimers. Their unequivocal position deserves applause by all of us who value our quality of life. They want a Clean Air Act that will require thousands of power plants, refineries, pulp and paper mills, chemical plants, and other industrial facilities to make upgrades in accordance with the emissions control standards mandated by Congress in 1977. They are insisting that those Midwest U.S. industries that are especially polluting install modern pollution-control technology whenever they modify their plants in ways that increase emissions.

The resolution against acid rain emissions, signed unanimously by this diverse group of leaders, shows statesmanship at its best.

If the Bush administration has its way, millions of tons of nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxide, the two major contributors to acid rain, will spew into our communities. The mixture of air pollutants produced in the Ohio Valley does not just drift “away.” It comes to us, and descends as rain and snow on the fields, forests, cities and rivers of New England and eastern Canada, injuring our trees, fish and birds.

Before falling to the earth, these pollutants are in the air we breathe.

EPA’s own analysis confirms that failure to clean up power plants means more than 10,000 unnecessary premature deaths a year and more asthma, other breathing problems and immune disorders, particularly among children and the elderly.

Not only will more people get sick, but also nature’s casualties will add up – sugar maples, wild Atlantic salmon, brook trout and songbirds, amphibians and small microbes – all so important to the web of life that sustains our planet.

Heartening as well is the threat of a legal challenge to the weakening of air emission regulations by the state of New York. Other New England states are considering joining the suit. Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine and Rhode Island have already sued the federal government over other air pollution policies and Vermont will likely join that lawsuit.

New Englanders, as well as east-coast Canadians, will benefit from such strong action. In Maine’s Down East rivers, where wild Atlantic salmon are already on the brink of extinction, the effects of lowered pH and increased toxic aluminum associated with acid rain may be the death knell. Acid rain is devastating the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, where some coastal areas receive more than twice the acid rain they can safely handle. There has been a decrease of 75 percent in Atlantic salmon runs to the acid-impacted Atlantic coast of Nova Scotia.

The premiers and governors have pointed out that rolling back clean air protection is a big mistake. They’re insisting that the continued emission of millions of tons of damaging pollutants can and must be controlled with existing technologies. We all stand to benefit from the strong position they have taken.

John Burrows is Maine coordinator of the Atlantic Salmon Federation.