As John Hanger of PennFuture says, "Every environmental victory grows the economy."

However, the one victory we're lacking at the moment is Governor Ed Rendell's proposal for "a state-specific mercury reduction plan that protects the market for bituminous coal while ensuring vastly greater protections to improve the environment and keep residents healthy and safe."

Here's the problem: mercury from coal-fired plants mixes with oxygen in the air, or oxidizes. Then when it rains, the mercury-oxide mixes with the raindrops and falls to the ground and runs into the waterways close to the source, creating hot-spots of mercury pollution.

In 2001, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection along with the Fish and Boat Commission and the Department of Health issued a statewide advisory for mercury and PCB's. For health and safety reasons, people were warned to limit their fish intake caught in our streams, rivers, and lakes to no more than 3 – 6 ounces per week.

The bad news: Pennsylvania is the fourth-largest coal-producing state and ranks first as the state with the highest atmospheric mercury pollution. It also uses an outdated safety standard that is insufficient to protect those most at risk from mercury - women of childbearing age, babies, and the elderly.

The good news: Through improved technology, there is an inexpensive way to reduce mercury pollution from coal-fired plants. If our legislators had the political will, they could require coal-fired plants to invest in advanced equipment to improve their environmental performance and reduce their toxic emissions.

And the ugly: After a majority of our Senators voted against the Governor’s proposal for stricter regulations, their bill (SB 1201) was deliberately sent to the House Rules Committee by Speaker of the House John Perzel to BYPASS the Environmental Resources and Energy Committee, which has jurisdiction over it. This was done to keep the committee from amending the bill.

Is this the way we want business conducted in Harrisburg? We need a voice who will speak for the people of this commonwealth - one who will speak up to protect our health and grow our economy. I will be that voice because I have the courage to do what is RIGHT!