Clean Air, Healthy Families News Releases

Madison, Wisconsin – Today, President Obama and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the first-ever nationwide standard for mercury and air toxics pollution from power plants. A record 907,000 Americans submitted comments on the standard, which is expected to cut toxic mercury pollution from power plants by 90 percent.

Milwaukee, Wisconsin - Today Wisconsin Environment released a new report showing that 3 metropolitan areas in Wisconsin – Kenosha, Sheboygan and Racine – are among the top ten smoggiest small metropolitan areas in the country. Smog is a harmful air pollutant that leads to asthma attacks and exacerbates respiratory illnesses, especially among children and the elderly. The new report, Danger in the Air: Unhealthy Air Days in 2010 and 2011, also found that there were 11 days in 2010 in Wisconsin when at least part of the state experienced smog levels exceeding the national health standard. Also, this summer, residents in the Milwaukee area were alerted to unhealthy air on 4 days.

Washington, D.C. – Today, the Obama administration announced that it will not update critical air quality standards for ozone pollution—commonly known as smog. This decision was made despite a unanimous recommendation by the independent board of air experts and scientists created under the Clean Air Act that the current standard be strengthened to protect public health.

Madison, WI—Senators Kohl and Johnson have signed their names onto a bill that would block critical public health protections for Wisconsin children and families. The bill, S. 1392, introduced last week by Senators Susan Collins (ME) and Ron Wyden (OR), would delay the Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to limit mercury and air toxics from industrial facilities, meaning more dangerous pollution, and putting as many as 22,750 lives nationwide at risk.