A loophole in the Bush administration’s “Clear Skies” bill could exempt 28 percent of Florida’s power plant units from regulation, allowing them to emit toxic mercury indefinitely.

A new Florida PIRG report entitled “The Fine Print” examined EPA data to determine the effects of this loophole, which would exclude from regulation power plant units that emit 30 pounds or less of mercury per year.

Among other plants, the bill would exempt a pair of units at Pensacola’s coal-fired Crist power plant that collectively emitted 29.6 pounds of mercury into the air in 1999.

Studies have found that even very small amounts of mercury present a grave danger to public health and the environment.

Low-level mercury exposure can cause learning disabilities in children and heart attacks and other problems in adults, and just one drop of mercury can contaminate the fish in a lake.

“This is a bill that only polluters could love,” said Florida PIRG Field Director Holly Binns.

“Florida Sens. Bill Nelson and Mel Martinez should reject this sweetheart deal for polluters,” she concluded.