Attorney General Jennifer Davenport joined a coalition of 18 states in filing a lawsuit challenging the Trump Administration’s repeal of the existing standards for the amount of mercury and other toxic pollutants that power plants are allowed to release into the environment, thus placing public health—particularly for children—at risk.
“Every time you look, the Trump Administration is taking us backwards, and this time, the issue is about the amount of mercury and other toxics we allow into the air and our water,” said Attorney General Davenport. “Ideological whims should never be allowed to overrule protecting the health of our children.”
Mercury is a potent neurotoxin that poses serious dangers to public health, especially for pregnant women and children. For example, a pregnant person’s consumption of mercury exposes their child to mercury and can cause lifelong developmental harms and neurological disorders such as seizures, vision and hearing loss, or delayed development. Exposure to mercury also increases the risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and autoimmune dysfunction in adults. Moreover, mercury pollution in lakes and rivers harms the local commercial and recreation fishing economies.
In a 2001 study, approximately 13% of pregnant women in New Jersey had unsafe levels of mercury in their system. Because of the seriousness of this problem, New Jersey was one of the first states to regulate mercury in water bodies and power plants.
Last month, the EPA revoked its most recent standards for mercury and other toxic pollutants from power plants including arsenic, lead, and formaldehyde, allowing for more of these dangerous emissions to be released into the air.
The states argue that the repeal is unlawful because the EPA has failed to provide a reasoned basis for it and failed to adequately consider developments in practices, processes, and control technologies. The attorneys general are asking the court to determine that the rule is unlawful and must be reversed.
Attorney General Davenport joined the attorneys general of Arizona, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin, along with Harris County, Texas, and Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, who co-led the coalition.