skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Thursday, March 28, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Pulling back the curtains on wage-theft enforcement in MN; Trump's latest attack is on RFK, Jr; NM LGBTQ+ equality group endorses 2024 'Rock Star' candidates; Michigan's youth justice reforms: Expanded diversion, no fees.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says rebuilding Baltimore's Key Bridge will be challenging and expensive. An Alabama Democrat flips a state legislature seat and former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman dies at 82.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

MN Mom Joins Others to Testify Against Relaxed Mercury Standards

play audio
Play

Tuesday, March 26, 2019   

ST. PAUL, Minn. — A recommended rollback on standards for mercury and other toxic pollutants drew moms, dads and kids to Washington, D.C., last week to publicly denounce the proposal.

Mary Lyons, an Ojibwa elder from Minnesota, joined the Moms Clean Air Force at the offices of the Environmental Protection Agency to speak against a proposal that would weaken the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards - an Obama-era rule that sets limits from coal-fired power plants. To Lyons, a rollback of standards makes no sense, because mercury is known to be a neurotoxic heavy metal that interferes with normal brain development.

"You don't have to have a doctor's degree of knowledge to know common sense,” Lyons said. “And this just surrenders the healthy life for your grandchildren and does not make sense."

In Minnesota, nine coal plants have reduced mercury and air toxics under the current government standards, and mercury pollution overall has decreased 84 percent since 2011. The Trump administration maintains that the cost of mitigating mercury pollution outweighs the benefits, although costs to retrofit plants has been significantly lower than original estimates.

When mercury gets into the air from the smokestacks of coal-burning power plants, it falls on waterways and gets absorbed by fish - meaning people are exposed through eating contaminated fish. Minnesota has more than 1,500 bodies of water with fish advisories because of mercury contamination.

And Lyons said she doesn't want that number to rise because of more lenient standards.

"It's just not for us, but it's for all people of Mother Earth, all the animals, all the vegetations, all the waterways," she said. "And we knew it, because being from Minnesota - they say 10,000 lakes, well, we're over 11,000 lakes."

About 39 percent of utility-scale electricity generation in Minnesota came from coal-fired electric power plants in 2017, down from 49 percent in 2014

Information on mercury in Minnesota is available at MomsCleanAirforce.org.


get more stories like this via email

more stories
A report from the Tennessee HealthCare Campaign recommended the federal government needs to strengthen 340B drug pricing and other federal negotiation mechanisms to make needed medicines more readily available and less expensive for hospitals to purchase and administer. (Spotmatikphoto/AdobeStock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

A recent report examined how some rural Tennessee hospitals have managed to stay afloat despite financial challenges. The report includes interviews …


Social Issues

play sound

Earlier this month, a new Arizona Public Service rate hike went into effect and one senior advocacy group said those on a fixed income may struggle …

Social Issues

play sound

Michigan recently implemented a significant juvenile justice reform package following recommendations from a task force made up of prosecutors…


Nearly 13 million Americans receive health coverage through unique plans under both Medicare and Medicaid. They are known as Dual-Eligible Special Needs Plans. (Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Medicare and Medicaid are key sources of health coverage for many Americans and some people qualify for assistance under both programs. With lagging …

Social Issues

play sound

A mix of policy updates and staffing boosts has helped to put wage theft enforcement on the radar in Minnesota, and officials leading the efforts are …

More than six in 10 Americans favor keeping the abortion pill mifepristone available in the U.S. as a prescription drug, while over a third are opposed, according to a Gallup poll. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

New research shows more than six in 10 abortions in the U.S. last year were medically induced, and U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto - D-NV - is …

Social Issues

play sound

Colorado is working to boost the state's agricultural communities by getting more fresh, nutritious foods into school cafeterias - and a new online …

Social Issues

play sound

Missouri lawmakers are concerned with protecting people from the potential risks of the increasing accessibility of AI-generated images and videos…

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021