AUBURN – With the Androscoggin River behind them, a half-dozen Democratic lawmakers said Thursday that President Bush’s Clean Skies Initiative will result in more pollution and increased health risks.

“It breaks my heart that in a state that has worked so hard to be a good steward of the environment, we can’t safely eat the fish we catch,” said House Speaker Patrick Colwell.

Colwell, who led the news conference, said studies “show us action needs to be taken now to prevent irreparable damage to our ecosystem.”

In Maine, he said, “89 percent of the fish sampled had levels of mercury that were above what the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) deems safe to consume.”

Recalling an earlier Bush visit to the state, Colwell said seeing the president and his daughters haul in striped bass “was a great photo op. But what he isn’t telling America is that because of his stonewalling, those fish are poison.”

Colwell called on Bush to support a 90 percent reduction in mercury emissions by 2008, and to reject the stalling tactics of industry polluters.

He said it’s time Bush and the Republican-controlled Congress stop delaying reauthorization of the Clean Air Act and stop promoting the Clean Skies Initiative, which Colwell said would weaken key provisions of the 1990 act.

The Republican National Committee differs on that. It says Clean Skies would:

• Expand the federal Acid Rain Program.

• Mandate a 70 percent cut in air pollution from power plants over the next 15 years, including capping mercury emissions.

• Help cities and counties meet EPA health-based air quality standards for ozone and fine particles.

• Improve air quality using a market-based approach to reach air quality goals while keeping energy affordable for consumers and businesses.

But Environment Maine, a coalition group that staged a protest against Bush’s policies Thursday in Portland, said the proposal would delay reductions in power plants’ mercury emissions from 2008 until 2018.

Such pollution is already a health threat, said state Rep. Elaine Makas of Lewiston.

“One in six women of child-bearing age have mercury levels in their wombs that pose a serious danger to developing fetuses,” said Makas.

Mercury arrives in Maine on the prevailing westerly winds, an unwelcome and unwanted gift of industrial polluters in Midwest and mid-Atlantic states, she noted.

She said it is critical that people know about the “extremely high levels of mercury in our environment and the dangers associated with this toxin, and that we continue to pressure our government at all levels to reduce the presence of mercury as quickly as possible.”

State Rep. Sonya Sampson said the mercury from elsewhere that is polluting Maine’s water and air is hurting the state’s economy as well as its health.

“Why leave New York City seeking to escape pollution if Maine will only be another contaminated area?” she asked. “Why spend a week fishing on Lake Sebago if the fish are no safer to eat than what you catch in the East River near Manhattan?”

Sampson said mercury is also costing Mainers jobs. “The people of Maine should not suffer so that polluters in Ohio can make greater profits. The Bush administration’s insistence to keep dirty Midwestern power plants open is ruining our health and our tourism-based economy.”

Other speakers were state Rep. Judd Thompson of South China, state Rep. Deb Simpson of Auburn and state Sen. Peggy Rotundo of Lewiston.