Free Republic

By WILLIE SOON AND PAUL DRIESSEN The Environmental Protection Agency recently issued 946 pages of new rules requiring that U.S. power plants sharply reduce their (already low) emissions of mercury and other air pollutants. EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson claims that while the regulations will cost electricity producers $10.9 billion annually, they will save 17,000 lives and generate up to $140 billion in health benefits. There is no factual basis for these assertions. To build its case against mercury, the EPA systematically ignored evidence and clinical studies that contradict its regulatory agenda, which is to punish hydrocarbon use. Mercury has always...

Vt. governor to sign mercury lamp recycling billMay 19, 2011 MONTPELIER, Vt.—Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin is going to signed a bill calling on manufacturers of light bulbs containing mercury to set up and pay for a recycling program for the bulbs. When Shumlin signs the bill Thursday, Vermont will become the third state in the country -- behind Maine and Washington -- to pass what's called a producer responsibility law for mercury-containing products. Lamps containing mercury, including compact fluorescent bulbs, are praised for saving energy. But mercury is a known nerve poison and is a cause of concern when released...

This is an image of Mercury's tail obtained from combining a full day of data from a camera aboard the STEREO-A spacecraft. The reflected sunlight off the planet's surface results in a type of over-exposure that causes Mercury to appear much larger than its actual size. The tail-like structure extending anti-sunward from the planet is visible over several days and spans an angular size exceeding that of a full Moon in the night sky.

First, the bad news: the inner solar system is unstable. Given enough time, Jupiter's gravity could yank Mercury out of its present orbit. Two new computer simulations of long-term planetary motion — one by Jacques Laskar (Paris Observatory), the other by Konstantin Batygin and Gregory Laughlin (University of California, Santa Cruz) — have both reached the same disturbing conclusion. Says Laughlin, "The solar system isn't as stable as we'd thought." Both teams have found that Jupiter's gravity can increase Mercury's orbital eccentricity over time. Mercury's path around the Sun is already nearly as elliptical as Pluto's. But Jupiter can make...

March 29, 2011 -- After the successful orbital insertion of NASA's MESSENGER (MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry and Ranging) spacecraft on March 17

http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html

The nation's accelerating shift from incandescent bulbs to a new generation of energy-efficient lighting is raising an environmental concern -- the release of tons of mercury every year. The most popular new light -- the curly cue, compact fluorescent light bulbs, or CFLs -- account for a quarter of new bulb sales and each contains up to 5 milligrams of mercury, a potent neurotoxin that's on the worst-offending list of environmental contaminants. Demand for the bulbs is growing as federal and state mandates for energy-efficient lighting take effect, yet only about 2 percent of residential consumers and one-third of businesses...

The first spacecraft ever to circle Mercury has beamed home the first-ever photo taken of the small rocky planet from orbit, showing a stark landscape peppered with craters. NASA's Messenger spacecraft snapped the new Mercury photo today (March 29) at 5:20 a.m. EDT (0920 GMT). The photo shows the stark gray landscape of southern Mercury, a view that is dominated by a huge impact crater. "This image is the first ever obtained from a spacecraft in orbit about the solar system's innermost planet," Messenger mission scientists explained in a statement. The new Mercury photo shows a region around the south...

Peshawar 22 March 2011, militants groups in Pakistan now changes their technique to kill more people and terror at the place of suicide attack. Now they are using mercury in jackets for more power and blast. According to Peshawar police official it’s the third time changing from militants and they are more advance with the help of foreign militants. Police confirm that they detain so many suicides and recovered from them suicide jacket, during inspection of these jacket and investigation they discover that militants groups use mercury for better result. According to police expert the change become after that security...

At some 36 million miles from the sun, temperatures on the planet's daylight half hit 800 degrees F., while temperatures on the night half plunge to nearly minus 300 degrees F. – a 1,100-degree temperature swing that the craft will experience every 12 hours. The craft is outfitted with a ceramic-cloth sun shield that sheds enough of the sun's heat to keep instruments inside the orbiter at room temperature. Solar panels, which ordinarily would aim face-on to the sun, must be feathered, like a rowboat oar, to keep the panels from overheating. In addition, the panels contain mirrors to help...

WASHINGTON – For the first time, Earth has a regular orbiting eye-in-the-sky spying on the solar system's smallest and strangest planet, Mercury. NASA's spacecraft called Messenger successfully veered into a pinpoint orbit Thursday night after a 6 1/2-year trip and 4.9 billion miles and tricky maneuvering to fend off the gravitational pull of the sun. It is the fifth planet in our solar system that NASA has orbited, in addition to the Earth and the moon.

Regulation: Worried about job losses, Big Labor is demanding that the EPA soften new rules aimed at pollution associated with coal-fired power plants. They want to save their jobs, not the environment. It was one thing when those greedy tools of the rich, Republicans and conservatives, stood in opposition to the Environmental Protection Agency's regulation of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases as well as its tightening of ozone and mercury standards in violation of sound science and congressional intent. After all, they were interested only in ravaging the earth for fun and profit. Now unions and some of the...

Federal environmental regulators proposed new rules today for mercury and other toxic air pollution from coal-fired power plants — a move that could cost industry billions of dollars while preventing thousands of premature deaths a year. The new standards, which the Environmental Protection Agency issued under court order, would require many older power plants to install scrubbers and other pieces of costly equipment to reduce emissions of the pollutants. The EPA estimates the cost of compliance would be more than $10 billion a year for utilities and other operators of power plants but would bring $140 billion in annual health...

(CNSNews.com) – A lighting expert who has overseen lighting projects including the Statue of Liberty and the Petronas Towers, expressed concerns on Capitol Hill Thursday about the safety of certain types of new light bulbs. Speaking before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, Howard M. Branston spoke out in favor of the "Better Use of Light Bulbs Act" – a measure which would overturn elements of a 2007 law mandating that traditional incandescent light bulbs be phased out over the next few years. In his testimony, Branston claimed that parts of the 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act...

LOS ALAMOS, N.M. (AP) - Los Alamos National Laboratory is increasing its use of a machine to crush fluorescent bulbs. The machine known as the Bulb Eater attaches to the top of a 55-gallon drum and works like a large food processor. Fluorescent bulbs contain small amounts of mercury vapor. That means they must be labeled, boxed and disposed of as a type of hazardous waste.

Okay, you FR sky watchers, what is the very bright planet I see each morning as I make my way into the city of Chicago? It is in the SE sky. Just asking and yes, I've checked Uranus...

As incandescent bulbs are phased out across America in favor of energy-saving compact fluorescents (CFL), a Philadelphia environment expert is warning of a potential danger in the bulbs — especially if they are accidentally broken... you need to take special precautions if a CFL bulb breaks. “Open up the windows,” Prof. Ryan advises. “Leave the room for 15 to 20 minutes and let the room air out. There will be a little bit of mercury that will vaporize. Mercury is a toxin and you don’t want to breathe it in... He says if a bulb breaks you should also turn...

House Republicans have announced a Congressional Review Act resolution that seeks to undo EPA rules to control toxic emissions from cement plants. The rules would reduce cement plants’ emissions of mercury and other toxic substances by more than 90%. EPA scientists have estimated the rules would prevent up to 2,500 premature deaths and thousands of heart and respiratory incidents and save billions of dollars in health costs each year. “Without these important EPA rules, our families will continue to be exposed to mercury and other toxic pollution from the Lafarge plant in Ravena, New York,” said Susan Falzon, with Friends...

Fluorescent and compact fluorescent bulbs can reduce intelligence, impair mood, and otherwise damage your life by releasing mercury, a highly neurotoxic chemical. Why, then, did congressional dimbulbs vote to ban incandescent light bulbs, forcing us to substitute fluorescent ones?

Say goodbye to your 100-watt incandescent light bulbs. On Jan. 1, it’ll become increasingly challenging to find one on a store shelf in California. That’s because the state has ordered a phaseout of the high energy-consuming light bulb. The state is pressing to have the old incandescents replaced with newer, more efficient bulbs, such as compact fluorescents, halogens and light-emitting diode light bulbs, or LEDs. And beginning in 2012, 100-watt incandescents will be off the shelves completely. As is typical, California is getting a jump-start on a trend that will begin nationwide in a few years. Three years ago, the...