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    Mercury in our air???
    Wow: Right now a few Senators are working to dismantle the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards rule. If these Senators are successful it would mean that Mercury, which can harm children's developing brains, affecting memory, attention, and IQ, would start spewing into the air.

    Help me remind our Senators that they should protect our public health, not destroy it:

    http://action.momsrising.org/letter/Mercury-CRA_Rollback/?source=taf

    There are more details in the email below.

    Thanks!
    Friend

    ***********************FORWARDED EMAIL BELOW*******************
    How many more shenanigans from corporate lobbyists do we have to put up with? This week, Senator James Inhofe of Oklahoma, is attempting to use the obscure Congressional Review Act (CRA) [1] to try to stop a great new rule, the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards Rule. [2] Before the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards Rule, there were no standards for how much mercury power plants can spew into the air – mercury that ends up in our food and water. No wonder up to 400,000 infants are born every year with elevated levels of mercury in their blood! [3]

    We can't let the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards Rule be destroyed. The CRA is Senator's Inhofe's sneaky way of taking back a rule we just got passed in December. With one in ten children suffering from asthma and missing on average more than 4 days of school each year, families want this rule, which is estimated to prevent 130,000 asthma attacks every year.[4], [5]

    Don't let Sen. Inhofe and the corporate lobbyists win! Tell your Senators to prioritize public health and clean air over corporate greed by urging them to support the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards Rule now by clicking here:

    http://action.momsrising.org/letter/Mercury-CRA_Rollback/?source=taf

    Once you click the link you can use our handy tool to send a quick note to your Senators. It only takes less than a minute, I promise!

    What's the Lowdown?

    Just last December, because of the hard work of hundreds of advocates and thousands of messages from MomsRising members (like you), President Obama signed the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards Rule. [7]

    Your work made a difference! Here's what the President said at the time of the signing:

    "Thanks to the hard work of so many of you, Lisa [Jackson, Director of the EPA] and I were able to announce new common-sense standards to better protect the air we breathe from mercury and other harmful air pollution. And that was a big deal."

    - President Obama, Tuesday, January 8th 2011 [8]

    This is an important step forward for clean air. The Mercury and Air Toxics Standards Rule will prevent as many as11,000 premature deaths and 4,700 heart attacks a year. It will also prevent 130,000 asthma attacks, providing relief to the one in ten American children suffering from asthma. [9] The Mercury and Air Toxics Standards Rule will also protect families all across the country from toxics like mercury and arsenic. [10] Mercury can harm children's developing brains, affecting memory, attention and IQ. The other toxic metals that are addressed in this new standard, such as arsenic, chromium and nickel, can cause cancer. [11], [12]

    Unfortunately, Sen. Inhofe and corporate lobbyists are working hard to take down this important rule. [13] Did you know that Sen. Inhofe received more than $44,000 from Koch Industries, a huge petroleum and chemicals companies, which is his SINGLE LARGEST DONOR? [14]

    But, together we can be stronger than corporate lobbyists like Koch Industries. Tell your Senators to stand up for kids by protecting the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards Rule.

    http://action.momsrising.org/letter/Mercury-CRA_Rollback/?source=taf

    Make sure you share the link above via Facebook, Twitter, or simply forwarding this email to a few friends. The vote is going to be close, so we need everyone to contact their senators and ask them to stand up for public health and clean air.

    Together we are a powerful voice for children and families!

    -- Sarah, Gloria, Kristin, Claire and the entire MomsRising.org team



    [1] "Conservative Group's $1M Ad Buy Seeks Votes to Kill Coal Rule," Cutting Edge, June 8th 2012 http://www.thecuttingedgenews.com/index.php?article=74144&pageid=21&pagename=Energy

    [2] EPA Issues First National Standards for Mercury Pollution from Power Plants/ Historic mercury and air toxics standards meet 20-year old requirement to cut dangerous smokestack emissions. EPA, Release Date: 12/21/2011 http://yosemite.epa.gov/opa/admpress.nsf/bd4379a92ceceeac8525735900400c27/bd8b3f37edf5716d8525796d005dd086!OpenDocument

    [3] Environmental Defense Fund http://cleartheair.edf.org/page.cfm?tagID=63464

    [4] "Vital Signs: Asthma Prevalence, Disease Characteristics, and Self-Management Education --- United States", 2001--2009, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6017a4.htm?s_cid=mm6017a4_w#fig1

    [5] EPA Issues First National Standards for Mercury Pollution from Power Plants/ Historic mercury and air toxics standards meet 20-year old requirement to cut dangerous smokestack emissions. EPA, Release Date: 12/21/2011 http://yosemite.epa.gov/opa/admpress.nsf/bd4379a92ceceeac8525735900400c27/bd8b3f37edf5716d8525796d005dd086!OpenDocument

    [6] "Congressional Review Act Might Not Be an Option to Fight EPA's Greenhouse Gas Regs," New York Times, January 6, 2011 http://www.nytimes.com/cwire/2011/01/06/06climatewire-congressional-review-act-might-not-be-an-opti-3674.html?pagewanted=all

    [7] Remarks by the President to the EPAstaff, January 10, 2012 http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2012/01/10/remarks-president-epa-staff

    [8] EPA Issues First National Standards for Mercury Pollution from Power Plants/ Historic mercury and air toxics standards meet 20-year old requirement to cut dangerous smokestack emissions. EPA, Release Date: 12/21/2011 http://yosemite.epa.gov/opa/admpress.nsf/bd4379a92ceceeac8525735900400c27/bd8b3f37edf5716d8525796d005dd086!OpenDocument

    [9] Ibid.

    [10] Ibid.

    [11] "Arsenic is a well-known environmental toxin and carcinogen." Arsenic Exposure Activates an Oncogenic Signaling Pathway; Leads to Increased Cancer Risk, Science Daily, February 23, 2010.

    [12] "Results confirm that children appear most at risk in the womb, where mercury seems to deform the brain's fragile architecture and upset the maturation and migration of brain cells. But Grandjean also found that mercury could threaten children's nervous systems well into adolescence." Mercury on the Brain, Harvard Magazine, June 2004.

    [13] Open Secrets, Center for Responsive Politics, http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/summary.php?cid=N00005582


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    Let's Stop The Shenanigans!

    Senator James Inhofe of Oklahoma, is attempting to use the obscure Congressional Review Act (CRA) to try to stop a great new rule, the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards Rule. Before the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards Rule, there were no standards for how much mercury power plants can spew into the air – mercury that ends up in our food and water. No wonder up to 400,000 infants are born every year with elevated levels of mercury in their blood!

    We can't let the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards Rule be destroyed. The CRA is Senator's Inhofe's sneaky way of taking back a rule we just got passed in December. With one in ten children suffering from asthma and missing on average more than 4 days of school each year, families want this rule, which is estimated to prevent 130,000 asthma attacks every year.

    Help stop Sen. Inhofe and the corporate lobbyists! Tell your Senators to prioritize public health and clean air over corporate greed by urging them to support the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards Rule

    G-FKC1JKZLDL

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