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News Release | Wisconsin Environment

Obama Administration to Protect Americans’ Health by Setting Carbon Pollution Standards for New Power Plants

Madison, WI —The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today proposed historic new limits on carbon pollution from new power plants. Carbon pollution fuels global warming, which leads to poor air quality that triggers asthma attacks and other respiratory problems.

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Report | Wisconsin Environment Research & Policy Center

Building a Better America

We can save money and help solve global warming by reducing the amount of energy we use, including in the buildings where we live and work every day. More than 40 percent of our energy — and 10 percent of all the energy used in the world — goes toward powering America’s buildings. But today’s high-efficiency homes and buildings prove that we have the technology and skills to drastically improve the efficiency of
our buildings while simultaneously improving their comfort and affordability.

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Report | Wisconsin Environment Research & Policy Center

Gobbling Less Gas for Thanksgiving: How Clean Cars Will Cut Oil Use and Save Americans Money

America’s dependence on oil threatens our environment, our economy, and our national security. Whether it is the scars left by the oil spills in the Yellowstone and Kalamazoo rivers and the Gulf of Mexico, the $1 billion that American families and businesses send overseas every day for oil, or the nearly 2 billion metric tons of global warming pollution emitted annually which fuels more and more extreme weather, these problems demand that we break our dependence on oil.  

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News Release | Wisconsin Environment

New Data Shows Wisconsin Power Plants Emit 19th Most Mercury Pollution Nationally

Madison, WI– Wisconsin's power plants emit more mercury pollution than power plants in over 30 other states, according to brand new U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) data outlined in Wisconsin Environment latest report, Wisconsin's Biggest Mercury Polluters. The report found that in total, power plants in Wisconsin emitted 1329 pounds of mercury pollution in 2010. Wisconsin Environment’s report comes as EPA is set to finalize a standard to limit mercury and other toxic air pollution from power plants next month.

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Report | Wisconsin Environment Research & Policy Center

Wisconsin's Biggest Mercury Polluters

Power plants continue to release large amounts of toxic pollutants, including mercury, into our air. In 2010, two-thirds of all airborne mercury pollution in the United States came from the smokestacks of coal-fired power plants. In other words, power plants generate more airborne mercury pollution than all other industrial sources combined.

Mercury is a potent neurotoxicant. Mercury exposure during critical periods of brain development can contribute to irreversible deficits in verbal skills, damage to attention and motor control, and reduced IQ.

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