A menace to our health

Kansas City Star: A privately funded study disputes the federal government's claim that the air is getting cleaner, raising serious questions about the country's direction in environmental regulation.
Clear the Air, a coalition of environmental groups with funding from the Pew Charitable Trusts, has debunked the Bush administration's claims that its policies are cleaning up the air.
The group says its studies of federal data on power-plant emissions and epidemiological studies show an estimated 24,000 premature deaths occur annually because of power-plant pollution. In Kansas City, the number is 191.
And, the report says, more than 5,000 asthma attacks in Kansas City each year are because of power-plant emissions.
Pollution from coal-fired plants long has been linked to heart problems, asthma and other respiratory illnesses, and to unsafe levels of mercury in the blood of many women of child-bearing age. That is why rigorous enforcement of the Clean Air Act is important.
Although the EPA contends it is doing more to improve air quality, a growing body of research shows evidence to the contrary.
The Bush administration is moving ahead with policies that will make the problem worse. It has abandoned a Clinton administration proposal to reduce 90 percent of mercury emissions within the next four years.
Undermining clean air
Instead, the White House is pushing a proposal that would undermine the Clean Air Act by allowing power plants to trade pollution "credits." Plants with a relatively clean record could sell credits to allow more heavily polluting plants to continue polluting. That would exacerbate health problems where power-plant pollution already is a problem.
Clean air and clean water should be among the basic rights of every American because they are so important to good health. Clear the Air's report is a reminder that the country is straying badly from its former goal of environmental protection. With this administration, the polluters have keys to the White House.