McConnell said in an interview last week that Addington's donations came with no strings attached. But Larry Makinson, a senior fellow with the Center for Responsive Politics, a Washington, D.C., watchdog group, says Addington's donations raise questions. But this contribution doesn't look like it's in that category,'' Makinson said. Addington and a spokesman did not respond to repeated telephone messages over the past week seeking comment for this story. Congress is preparing to consider major energy legislation this session including a sweeping energy bill introduced this week that incorporates several of the Byrd-McConnell proposals as well as calling for oil drilling in an Alaskan wildlife refuge.
Issue involves coal The oil drilling issue has attracted the most national attention.
According to documents filed with Kentucky state regulators, the plant would release up to 3,620 pounds of mercury into the air each year. Airborne mercury eventually mixes with rain and falls back to earth. It can poison lakes and rivers one teaspoonful in a 20-acre lake is considered harmful, said John Coequyt, one of the authors of a study on mercury emissions for the Environmental Working Group. Nationwide, coal-fired plants released 43 tons of mercury in 1999, the EPA estimates. Last year, EnviroPower's subsidiary, Kentucky Mountain Power, asked for permission to release up to 3,620 pounds of mercury annually at its Kentucky plant.