The NRDC just released its top 20 list of states with the most toxic air pollution, and it isn’t pretty.
See, my home state of Pennsylvania is number two. Number two. I have many loved ones in that state, both friends and family. When I think of my hometown I think of rolling hills, farms, football games, and golden leaves. Not dangerous air pollution, harming vulnerable residents.
According to the NRDC:
“Coal pollution is killing Americans,” said Lynn Ringenberg, MD, of Physicians for Social Responsibility. “It is America’s biggest source of toxic air pollution. Air toxics from coal-fired power plants cause cancer, birth defects, and respiratory illness. Just one of those air toxics, mercury, damages the developing brains of fetuses, infants, and small children. It robs our children of healthy neurological development and native intelligence.”
I will continue the fight for clean air, and I hope you will join me. I won’t sit idly by while children across this country are exposed to dangerous toxins in the very air they breath. There is still time to make a BIG difference in the fight for clean air. There are only a few days left to send your note of support for the EPA’s Mercury and Air Toxics Rule.
This rule will save as many as 17,000 lives every year by 2015 and prevent up to 120,000 cases of childhood asthma symptoms. The safeguards also would avoid more than 12,000 emergency room and hospital visits and prevent 850,000 lost work days every year.
Please send your email message today.
And take a look. Is your state on this list? If it isn’t, do you think air pollution knows state boundaries? My state of Vermont is not on the list, however, New Hampshire is. I know that emissions from coal plants pollute the air for miles, and mercury is carried in the atmosphere. That is why Vermonters can’t eat fish from many of our lakes and ponds– because of industrial pollution in the Midwest and elsewhere.
The states on the “Toxic 20” list (from worst to best) are:
1. Ohio
2. Pennsylvania
3. Florida
4. Kentucky
5. Maryland
6. Indiana
7. Michigan
8. West Virginia
9. Georgia
10. North Carolina
11. South Carolina
12. Alabama
13. Texas
14. Virginia
15. Tennessee
16. Missouri
17. Illinois
18. Wisconsin
19. New Hampshire
20. Iowa
Please pass this along to everyone you know in these states– and the neighboring ones. This issue couldn’t be more personal. The very air we breathe is at stake, and its fate is being decided by politicians in Congress, many who receive large donations from the coal industry. Please join us at the Moms Clean Air Force to fight for clean air for our families.