Congress, Don't Abandon Mercury/Carbon Emission Controls Supported by Obama Administration

The U.S shift away from coal and toward stricter emission standards in the past few years has led to a surprisingly steep decline in mercury contamination of the Atlantic bluefin tuna. But with Trump's pledge to revive coal production in the U.S., the progress made in tuna recovery could be lost again.

According to a report by Scientific American, , the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), has projected that “mercury emissions from U.S. power plants will be about 85 percent lower in 2017 than in 2010.” And this decline is directly linked to “reduced mercury emissions in North America.”

Even though SA says Trump’s campaign promise to revive the coal industry is not likely to result in a coal comeback, there is concern over his talk of  abandoning the Obama administration’s initiatives for climate control and decreasing pollution. These include the Clean Power Plan, which would gradually decrease the limit on carbon pollution from electric utilities, his support of the 2016 Paris agreement's limits on international carbon pollution and his support of worldwide reduction of mercury emissions.

All these issues “connect very directly with people’s health in the United States,” MIT atmospheric chemist Noelle Eckley Selin told SA.

Sign this petition to Urge Congress not to allow any rollbacks on emission regulations of coal-fired plants during the upcoming administration.