Kerry on Senate Dem's Policy Committee hearing on Mercury Pollution

[kerrygoddess]

In other Senate news today, the Senate Democratic Policy Committee held a hearing on mercury pollution in response to the continual denials of Republican-lead committees to hold hearings on the mercury pollution. Here is John Kerry’s statement today from the hearing:

Washington, D.C. - "I want to thank the members of the panel for joining us today to wrestle with an issue that's not just an environmental issue, but which is as real and present a health care crisis as you'll find in numerous communities across our country.

"When fathers across America take their kids fishing but can't risk cooking the catch for dinner because of the risk of mercury contamination, that's a health care issue. When expectant mothers can't trust the tuna fish sandwich they are eating because it might some day lead to seizures in their child, we have a public health problem on our hands. When teachers are seeing increases in learning disabilities around mercury hotspots, we have an education and a public health issue staring us in the face. And what's most troubling is that Washington's not being honest about it.

"In this city, it's almost become standard-fare for honesty to be sacrificed for political expediency. We saw it when the President's budget left out literally trillions in spending. We saw it when a Medicare actuary was forced to fudge the numbers and lie to Congress to keep his job. We saw the falsified numbers in Iraq on everything from the cost of the war to the number of trained Iraqi troops. We saw the fake newscasts produced by the Bush Administration and funded with your tax dollars.

More & Links - http://www.lightupthedarkness.org/blog/default.asp?view=plink&id=750

[bloom]

1. He had a busy day today.

I saw him on Cspan 2 with the Bolton thing.


Thanks for the note and link.

[RPM]

2. i saw that too

he did not look like himself (or at least i thought). The tip of his nose looked narrower, or perhaps the rest of his face was broader - either way, he looked a little different. thoughts?

[Mass]

3. He was wearing glasses. That may have been that.

[JI7]

4. weight gain

without the campaign intensity and especially the surgery he had which doesn't allow him to be active for now probably resulted in weight gain.

[kerrygoddess]

5. There's some photos here

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?g=events/pl/030705boltonunambass&a=&tmpl=sl&e=14&na=1

He looks like the same JK to me!

[Vektor]

6. He looked great as always!

Well-rested, and feisty!

[kerrygoddess]

7. Feisty!

We like that!

[Vektor]

10. Yes we do!

He, and his distinguished colleagues were brilliant today!

[sandnsea]

8. Shadow President

workin' for the people!

[kerrygoddess]

9. yes he is...

[AlmightyTallest]

11. Go John!

He's like the energizer bunny. He's always been great about environmental issues and this is one that is immediate and relevant.

Love this line: "In this city, it's almost become standard-fare for honesty to be sacrificed for political expediency." Ah, so true.

[bloom]

12. Would you pay $18/year more for electricity to have Mercury reduced 80% ?

"What is extremely frustrating is that we know that currently available technology can reduce mercury emissions from eighty to over ninety percent. Within the last year, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources issued Clean Air Act permits for two new coal-fired power plants that require over 80 percent mercury reduction. The two utilities involved, WE Energies and Wisconsin Public Service Corporation, readily agreed to these requirements. Not only are these requirements technically feasible now, they are economically feasible. The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources’ economic study of the costs of the rules that they adopted last year established that the cost per household for the Wisconsin rules was $18 per household per year."

George Meyer Wisconsin Wildlife Federation April 19, 2005

Senate Democratic Policy Committee Hearing “An Oversight Hearing on the Administration’s Mercury Pollution Rule”

http://democrats.senate.gov/dpc/dpchearing.cfm?A=20