Republican presidential hopeful and Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann was named by the environmental activist group Greenpeace as one of 15 politicians “who are among those in the House of Representatives working for America’s dirty and decrepit coal-fired power industry.”
The report, released last week, details each representative’s contributions to coal pollution.
According to the report’s introduction:
These 15 members have tried to stop EPA from modernizing standards for pollutants that come predominantly from coal-fired power plants, including mercury, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, greenhouse gases, and coal ash. Except for the one freshman, these members of Congress are in the top 25% of those receiving money from the fossil fuel industry. Many are in leadership positions within Congress. The actions reviewed for these 15 politicians were opposed to the health of people in their own districts.
The report said two coal plants pollute Bachmann’s congressional district — the Sherburne County and Allen S. King plants. The report claimed the two coal plants caused 102 deaths, 165 heart attacks and 76 admissions annually in the district and cost more than $787 million each year.
The fossil fuel industry has given Bachmann nearly $132,000 in campaign donations, and her coal donors include Xcel Energy.
Among other congressmen on the list are Reps. Eric Cantor, R-Va., Jerry Costello, D-Ill., and Mike Rogers, R-Mich. No one from Colorado made the list.
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