Outdoors-women Tells U.S. Senate to Fight Smokestack Pollution

Sen. Tom Carper with NWF's Brenda Archambo
As a life-long outdoors-woman and outreach consultant for NWF, I was thrilled to be invited to testify before the U.S. Senate Committee of Environment and Public Works sub-committee on Clean Air and Nuclear Safety on April 17, 2012. My testimony primarily focuses on the fact that reducing mercury, air toxics and industrial carbon pollution will help protect our long standing investment in our outdoor heritage.

Across America, hunters and anglers contribute more than $10 billion to fish and wildlife conservation, and in a typical year pump another $75 billion into the economy.

The EPA is acting now to limit carbon pollution. They need to hear from you that Americans support limits on carbon pollution to protect wildlife at risk.

Archambo Testifies in U.S. Senate Subcommittee

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pb4kSbSQMVo[/youtube]

Positive Action on Industrial Carbon Pollution

The Environmental Protection Agency’s recent action to crack down on mercury pollution from power plants coupled with the proposed first-ever national limits on industrial carbon pollution is a milestone in the fight to rein in air pollution that is causing a warming climate that seriously threatens people and wildlife. These actions will provide certainty to businesses and investors, spur innovation and deployment of clean technologies, and help to ignite the revitalization of our manufacturing sector.

In addition to the threat of climate change to game species, sportsmen and women like me are particularly concerned about mercury. This harmful air toxic settles from the air onto our lakes, rivers, and forests, polluting the environment and accumulating up the food chain as fish and wildlife consume the contamination. This is a game changer that directly affects many species which are revered as part of our state’s angling, hunting and conservation heritage.

Last December, over 14,000 Michigan conservationists participated in a tele-town forum on the impacts of mercury pollution and the importance of the Environmental Protection Agency’s EPA’s new mercury and air toxics standards to protect our nation’s people and wildlife. The extent and effects of mercury pollution in the Great Lakes region is an issue of going concern among sportsman as there are over 204 fish consumption advisories in Michigan.

Take Action for Wildlife

Please, join me today to help create a better future for wildlife by sending a message to the EPA in support of limits to industrial carbon pollution and ensure that the legacy we leave our children is a clean and healthy planet.