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The Trump administration has targeted an Obama-era regulation credited with helping dramatically reduce toxic mercury pollution from coal-fired power plants, saying the benefits to human health and the environment may not be worth the cost of the regulation. The 2011 Obama administration rule, called the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards, led to what electric utilities say was an $18 billion clean-up of mercury and other toxins from the smokestacks of coal-fired power plants. Overall, environmental groups say, federal and state efforts have cut mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants by 85 percent in roughly the last decade. Mercury causes brain...

The is the first in a multi-part series of articles exposing the lies and misinformation behind legislation mandating the replacement of incandescent light bulbs with potentially unsafe compact florescent light (CFL) bulbs. ------- According to provisions of legislation passed by congress in 2007, the 100-watt incandescent bulb was to be off the shelves this January, followed by a phase-out of the 75-watt version in January 2013 and the 60- and 40-watt versions in January 2014. But last month congress granted consumers a reprieve by including in its spending bill a measure delaying enforcement of the ban until the end of...

By Kirk Myers, Seminole County Environmental News Examiner This article, the second in a series, focuses on the misleading performance claims surrounding the “more energy efficient” compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs now replacing traditional incandescent bulbs. These potentially harmful mercury-filled lamps (see my previous column describing the dangers) are being forced on consumers by the U.S. congress with support from the Green Lobby and light-bulb manufacturers like GE, Sylvania and Phillips. These and other manufacturers stand to make huge profits selling the more expensive CFLs (more on that issue in my next column). There is a growing body of evidence...

A rider attached to the omnibus spending bill that will keep the government running through September 30 of next year contains language that would prevent the EPA from enforcing the ban on incandescent light bulbs. But this is only a short respite, as this Politico article explains: DOE's light bulb rules - authorized under a 2007 energy law authored signed by President George W. Bush - would start going into effect Jan. 1. The rider will prevent DOE from implementing the rules through Sept. 30. But Democrats said they could claim a "compromise" by adding language to the omnibus that...

Congressional negotiators struck a deal Thursday that overturns the new rules that were to have banned sales of traditional incandescent light bulbs beginning next year.That agreement is tucked inside the massive 1,200-page spending bill that funds the government through the rest of this fiscal year, and which both houses of Congress will vote on Friday. Mr. Obama is expected to sign the bill, which heads off a looming government shutdown.Congressional Republicans dropped almost all of the policy restrictions they tried to attach to the bill, but won inclusion of the light bulb provision, which prevents the Obama administration from carrying...

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...

Standard incandescent light bulbs are now an endangered species. A phase-out underway means consumers who haven't already made the switch will soon have to start buying more energy efficient compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs instead. B.C. banned new imports of old 75- and 100-watt incandescent bulbs Jan. 1, although wholesalers and retailers are allowed to continue selling off their existing stock. "A lot of people don't like the colour of the light with the CFLs," he said, adding some of his customers are hoarding old bulbs. "They're used to turning a light on and it's on. CFLs start dim and...

Three years after he led the charge to require consumers to ditch their comfortable old incandescent lights in favor of those twisty CFL bulbs, Rep. Fred Upton now wants to be the man to help undo that law as the next chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. That about-face is not unique among lawmakers looking to atone for stances they've taken over the past decade as they seek to gain top posts in a decidedly more conservative Republican Congress, but his reversal underscores how intent the GOP is on proving it has broken with past practices. "We have...

UK experts have warned that CFL bulbs can trigger migraines, dizziness and loss of focus, as well as increased pain for those with lupus and can cause people with epilepsy to experience symptoms similar to the early stages of a fit. CFL's operate at high frequency using an electronic switching ballast to chop up the 120 volts -- that's how they are able to use less energy when compared to an old-style incandescent bulb. A typical operating frequency for an electronic ballast would be in the region of 20kHz to 100kHz, a frequency range known to produce adverse effects on...

Six teenagers are under observation in a Benjaminville, Virginia, hospital following the nation's first drive-by bulbing on Friday night. The incident raised concerns of mercury poisoning from the exploded CFL light bulbs used by the perpetrators. The local chapter of the Natural Resources Committee issued a statement condemning "this obvious right-wing Republican ecoterrorist hate crime."

Associated Press It's a message being drummed into the heads of homeowners everywhere: Swap out those incandescent lights with longer-lasting compact fluorescent bulbs and cut your electric use. Governments, utilities, environmentalists and, of course, retailers everywhere are spreading the word. Few, however, are volunteering to collect the mercury-laced bulbs for recycling -- despite what public officials and others say is a potential health hazard if the hundreds of millions of them being sold are tossed in the trash and end up in landfills and incinerators. For now, much of the nation has no real recycling network for CFLs, despite the...

“No man's life, liberty or property is safe while the legislature is in session.” That comment by New York State Surrogate Court Judge Gideon Tucker in 1866 aptly summarizes the so-called “Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007,” signed into law this week by President Bush. First, the law requires auto fuel efficiency standards to increase by 40 percent by 2020. Unfortunately, this goal is presently only achievable by reducing vehicle weight — but lighter cars are deadlier cars. So what’s the purported benefit of mandating 4,000 or more deaths per year? The law’s supporters claim that it may reduce...