Now well into the second year of a benighted energy policy, the one that keeps coal-fired power plants across the country burning, even the ones that had been shuttered for years, and now we have resurgent levels of toxic mercury fouling the air. Looking at a map in the NY Times, what one sees is that coal is poisoning people in the states that voted for the author of this benighted policy.
A few weeks ago EPA administrator Lee Zeldin defended weakening mercury pollution guidelines. Who’s he protecting? Not the environment or us, for sure. On top of that, the EPA eliminated certain water pollution guidelines, so if the air you breathe doesn’t kill you, the water you drink will.
Adding insult to injury, coal plants are also getting huge amounts of money that come from our pockets. This in an age when gas prices are sky-high, thanks to an illegal war and farmers have trouble planting crops because of the cost of fertilizer. We in the East may be free of coal-fired plants, but air moves from west to east and now we need to think about the fish we eat. Here we go: back to the nineteenth century!
Prayer for the Day
Frustrated with decisions that destroy your creation, O God,
We come to you asking how we can overcome then;
We see the new dangers that await us as a people, O Lord,
But often feel helpless to bring a halt to their trajectory.
Give us strength, O Holy One, to challenge policies,
Destructive of our people and our Nation.
In the name of the One who is our strength,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
A tiny amount of mercury goes a long way. Mercury is magnified in the food chain, and so it ends up getting more and more concentrated as it moves up, into, say fish that people eat.
Lynn R. Goldman, M.D., Harvard environmental chemistry professor
The mercury is coming from those coal-burning power plants. In 49 states, at least some of the fish are unsafe to eat.
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., before Congress in 2008
Ah, sinful nation, people laden with iniquity, offspring who do evil,
Children who deal corruptly, who have forsaken the Lord,
Who have despised the Holy One of Israel, who are utterly estranged!
Isaiah 1: 4