Montana Criticizes Dubya over Mercury in Waterways

[JoseCuervo]

More bad news about Dubya's lack of concern over Fishing. Guess nobody should be eating fish from Montana due to high levels of Mercury.

Scope of mercury emissions protest broadens


Missoula’s Air Pollution Control Board voted Monday to write not only the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency with its protests of new mercury emission standards, but also President Bush and Montana’s congressional delegation.


During a noon-hour conference call, board members approved a letter criticizing the EPA’s proposed rules as too lenient.


“We ask you to abandon this damaging strategy,” said the letter. “Mercury contamination pollutes Montana’s waterways. Our state currently endures 25 health advisories on 321,858 acres of lakes and reservoirs and 34 miles of rivers due to mercury.”


Of greatest concern, air board members said, are emissions from coal-fired power plants - which account for one-third of the nation’s mercury emissions.


The Bush administration’s proposal would give utilities until 2018 to comply with the new standards and would allow one utility to trade pollution credits with another, creating mercury “hot spots” throughout the country.


Initially, the air board intended to send its letter only to EPA Administrator Mike Leavitt.


On Monday, though, board members asked City-County Health Department staffers to send copies of the critique to Bush, the state’s congressional delegation, the Montana Association of Counties and health officers in the state’s largest counties.


Public comment on the proposed mercury rules closes Friday.

 

[Nemont]

Missoula’s Air Pollution Control Board voted Monday to write not only the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency with its protests of new mercury emission standards, but also President Bush and Montana’s congressional delegation.

During a noon-hour conference call, board members approved a letter criticizing the EPA’s proposed rules as too lenient.

“We ask you to abandon this damaging strategy,” said the letter. “Mercury contamination pollutes Montana’s waterways. Our state currently endures 25 health advisories on 321,858 acres of lakes and reservoirs and 34 miles of rivers due to mercury. ”

EG, This one is one of the dumbest, most inaccurate posts you have made here. First of all: If you think that the Missoula Board of anything Speaks on behalf of Montana you need to clean out your pipe bowl and put some tobacco in it. Secondly they are griping about 321,858 surface acres out of how many million of surface acres are of water and 34 miles out of how many thousands of miles of rivers there are in Montana.

Perhaps there wouldn't be the air pollution problem in Missoula if every transplant didn't build a log cabin on their ranchette up in the Wintering grounds of the former elk herds. In addition then they want to heat their homes with wood.

I am willing to bet this that not one of the members of the board you referenced is a native of Montana and has never been east of Helena. So to say they speak for all of us is total B.S. Why post shit like that, you know better? Come on!!

It would be like saying the Salmon, Idaho baord of education writes a letter on behalf of all Idahoans,(is that how you say it?) praising President Bush on his No Child Left Behind Act.

Post something worthy of arguement or analysis but this is so stupid I can't believe it.

Nemont

 

[JoseCuervo]

Originally posted by Nemont:
[EG, This one is one of the dumbest, most inaccurate posts you have made here.

Nemont

I don't know if I can even agree with you on that. I think you are wrong.

But the point is, should Dubya be relaxaing the EPA regulations??? Would you feed these fish to your kids?

 

[Nemont]

EG,
I don't know enough about the issue to say yes or no. Why aren't they bitching about the coal fired power plants in Hardin, MT or Miles City, MT. Those two towns live much closer to the Power Plants at Coal Strip. Missoula is on the left side of Montana for a reason. It attracts all the people who lean that way.

Nemont

P.S. it was still a stupid post. Maybe not your dumbest but certainly stupid.

 

[pawclaws]

Uhhh here is a clue. What is preventing Montana from enacting more stringent water purity standards?? Not a damned thing; except they want to bitch out Bush! Try it the old Ruskie method. You make the plant use the same water they dump into only the dump site must be upstream of the inlet!

 

[ELKCHSR]

Those are very good points Nemont.
One thing if Missoula is so afraid of the Republicans filling the world with dirty water and dirty air, they need to mark out the areas and stay away from them.
Yes, 35 miles sound like an awful lot, but as Nemont said, out of the thousands of miles of water way's, only 35 miles is tainted, that sounds like pretty good odds to me. Same goes with the 321,858 surface acres, how did they come up with that 8 on the end... I sure hope they aren't just coming up with arbitrary numbers like the left likes to come up with on every thing else they speak of. Just for instance, the one out of five children that go to bed hungry. Of course that could be very accurate, the don't say how many went to bed with out dinner which would make a big difference..Most all kids are total eating machines. I just find that when exact numbers are stated of this sort, that it is very suspect, and the source, (Missoula any thing) is some thing to be looked at with a very cocked eye.

 

[BuzzH]

Elkchsr,

You need to educate yourself, perhaps a trip to Missoula would do you some good.

Calculating exact figures on water surface areas is a snap. People buy, sell, and fight over land parcels way, way, way, smaller than an acre.

There is a hell of a lot more impaired waters in Montana than 35 miles...check it out with the Montana DEQ, they have a whole list of impaired waters.

The 120 miles of the Clark Fork that runs by Anaconda is one, for example. Silverbow Creek is another...the list goes on and on.