"The Inspector General's alarming report shows just how far the Bush administration will go to satisfy corporate polluters. The Bush administration must have realized scientists at EPA would never come back with the lenient rules it wanted, and that's why the administration rigged the process from the very beginning.

"Based on the IG's findings, the administration simply cannot go ahead with finalizing this rule next month. It's clear corporate and administration biases won out over sound science in the creation of EPA's new mercury rule.

"Unfortunately, the Bush administration's mercury rule places the health of millions of Americans at risk, especially women and children. Currently, eight percent of women of childbearing age in the U.S. have unsafe levels of mercury in their blood, and 630,000 babies are born each year with elevated levels of mercury in their blood. Mercury pollution has also contaminated 12 million acres of our nation's lakes, estuaries and wetlands and more than 400,000 miles of streams, rivers and coastlines.

"Before environmental rules are made, the American people must have confidence that environmental scientists support the rule's findings. The Bush administration must go back to the drawing board and allow scientists to do the job they're paid by the taxpayer to do, so we can all have confidence, whether we agree with the rule or not, that the findings are at least scientifically supported."