Coal-fired power plants are the single largest unregulated source of mercury pollution in the United States. Of Nebraska's 17 fish advisories in 2004, nine were due to mercury contamination. North Omaha's OPPD plant, as well as Sutherland's NPPD plant, have had significant increases in carbon dioxide emissions, which fuel global warming.

Is Nebraska's air getting dirtier? Are recent Bush administration policies of allowing power plants to buy and sell pollution credits, rather than reducing emissions, going to create "hot spots" where certain areas expose local residents to unsafe levels of mercury? Are power plants doing anything to reduce the air pollution in our community?

Join us to learn the answers to these questions and many more during the Sierra Club panel discussion featuring local experts talking about pollution in Nebraska and Omaha.

Tom Baker from the Douglas County Health Department will discuss diesel fume particulates and the possible retrofitting of school buses in the Omaha area, as well as public health issues such as asthma.
Hope Hasenkamp-Gibbs, Environmental Specialist for NPPD, will present information on NPPD's efforts to use alternative energy sources to promote cleaner emissions from power plants.
Jonah Deppe, Natural Resources Chair for the League of Women Voters, will speak from the community perspective about how industrial pollutants directly affect community health and what you can do to protect your family.

Sierra Club programs are free and open to the public. Please join us for this educational panel discussion. For more information contact Mary Green at megreen4@cox.net, or 556-1830.

This article originally appeared in the April 2005 issue of the Missouri Valley Sierran