With the holiday season upon us, most Mainers are planning for fun gatherings and may not be aware that some members of Congress are planning to be naughty — not nice — to our health and environment. These members are preparing to deliver to all of us the proverbial lump of coal by blocking clean-air safeguards that would stop harmful toxic air pollution, including mercury.

Currently, we have no national limits on how much toxic mercury pollution a coal plant can pump into the air, so about 48 tons of the toxic stuff is pumped into the air each year from coal-fired power plants, which are the largest domestic source.

Mercury is a potent neurotoxin that is especially dangerous to children and pregnant women. Exposure to it affects a child’s ability to walk, talk, read, write and learn.

Today, the mercury contamination problem in the U.S. is so widespread that up to one in 10 women of childbearing age is likely to have mercury levels in her blood high enough to put her baby at risk of mercury poisoning.

Mercury is a particularly harmful pollutant because it builds up in the environment and in the food we eat. Since 1994, Maine has warned pregnant women, nursing mothers and children not to eat certain fish caught in our lakes, rivers and streams due to mercury contamination.

As we enter this holiday season, there is an opportunity to dramatically reduce the most toxic pollution that pours into Maine because of the state’s location downwind from so many smokestacks.

That is why the Natural Resources Council of Maine urges the Obama administration and Congress to stand up to the big polluters and move forward with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s proposal that would keep 91 percent of the mercury emitted from coal plants from being released into the air.

That would save thousands of American lives, spur innovation and job creation, and protect communities.

The rule the administration is considering would cut back on health threats from not only mercury but the dioxin, acid gases, lead, arsenic and other heavy metals that spew from power plants. Even in small amounts, these pollutants may cause cancer, heart disease, neurological damage, birth defects, asthma attacks and premature death.

Limits on mercury and other pollutants pumped into the air by power plants could prevent 11,000 heart attacks and 120,000 asthma attacks a year, nationwide, and save 17,000 lives over the next year alone. In fact, the health benefits associated with these updated standards are estimated to be worth between $59 billion and $140 billion in 2016.

That means that for every dollar spent to reduce pollution from power plants, we would see $5 to $13 in health benefits.

Lobbyists for polluting industries are fighting this rule, but we are counting on Congress and the EPA to protect the health of American families. We must do everything we can to reduce harmful air pollution from toxic substances and oppose the big polluters who say our kids aren’t worth the cost of reducing these dangerous emissions.

For more than 40 years, the Clean Air Act has protected Americans’ health and it can do so for generations to come. That is why we hope the Obama administration does the right thing and moves forward with the updated EPA standard on mercury and other power plant emissions by the end of this year.

Then we can all breathe a little easier this holiday season and enjoy the gift of cleaner air in the future.

Lisa Pohlmann is executive director of the Natural Resources Council of Maine.