Help Stop Toxic Mercury Pollution
Earlier this year, the Rocky Mountain News reported that state health regulators have found unsafe levels of mercury in fish at five lakes in Colorado. These lakes previously had undetectable levels of mercury, and now there is a total of fourteen lakes in Colorado with unsafe levels of mercury. The bulk of these lakes are near a cluster of coal burning power plants in southwest Colorado. This should come as no surprise since coal-fired power plants are the single largest source of mercury pollution in the US, responsible for 33% of the total mercury emissions nationwide.
Unfortunately, Westminster based Tri-State Generation and Transmission is looking to add to the problem by constructing up to two 700 MW coal burning power plants in Western Kansas and Eastern Colorado. Together these plants could emit over 1000 pounds of toxic mercury per year.
That’s why Environment Colorado and others are asking Tri-State Generation and Transmission and rural electric cooperatives to look for alternatives that will limit the amount of mercury in our air and water. Specifically, we are asking each rural electric cooperative in Colorado to reduce the need for these coal plants by:
- Setting an energy savings goal of 10% by 2020 and reducing consumption
- Meeting or beating the House Bill 1281 goal of 10% by 2020 with local produced clean renewable energy
Please add your name to our coalition of rate-payers who want a New Energy Future for our Rural Electric Cooperatives, and protect our air, water and wildlife from unnecessary mercury pollution.