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RECEIVED

LEAGUE OF

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CLERK'S OFFICE

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AUG 2

3

2006

WOMEN

PALATINE

VOTERS

AREA

®

STATE OF ILLINOIS

Pollution Control Board

August 18, 2006

REGARDING

: The Proposed Illinois Mercury Emissions Reduction Rule

(HPCB case No

: R20% 025)

The Honorable Senator Steven Rauschenberger

Illinois Senate District 22

1112 South Street

Elgin, Illinois 60123

Dear Senator Rauschenberger,

The League of Women Voters of the Palatine Area urges you to support the plan to reduce

coal-fired power plant mercury emissions by ninety percent by mid-year 2009

. If this

proposal becomes law, it will benefit the residents of the communities we serve

: Hoffman

Estates, Inverness, Palatine, Rolling Meadows and Schaumburg

.

The health harms of mercury are well known

: mercury is a potent toxin that puts developing

fetuses and children at risk of developmental delays, decreased IQ, and memory and

attention difficulties

. Higher doses similarly impair adults and increase the risk of heart

attacks

. Humans get most of their mercury from eating fish-and the state's testing has

found that 40 percent of fish samples in Illinois are contaminated at unsafe levels

. The

Illinois Department of Public Health warns people to eat no more than one meal per week

of any predator fish caught in the state due to mercury contamination in Illinois waters

.

Fortunately, the proposed rule is a solution that can be implemented now

. The twenty-one

coal-fired power plants in Illinois are the single largest source of in-state mercury emissions

.

Available technologies can capture 90 percent of this mercury before it leaves the stack

.

The Illinois mercury rule is a response to the federal EPA's weak, industry-drafted mercury

rules that won't address local pollution hotspots and will delay meaningful mercury

reductions for at least a decade, putting at risk another generation of children

. Four states

have already gone beyond the federal rule by putting their plants on a schedule to eliminate

90 percent of their mercury emissions

. We should adopt the IEPA proposal to do the same

for Illinois .

We ask you to support the Illinois mercury reduction rule

.

Susan Spengler

President

cc

: Illinois Pollution Control Board >/

Joint Committee on Administrative Rules

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League of Women Voters Palatine Area

11 .0

. Box 35

Palatine, Illinois 60078