The Doyle administration should press ahead with its smart plan for reducing mercury emissions and other pollution from coal-burning power plants in Wisconsin.

Symbolic resistance from some Republican lawmakers last week shouldn’t stop important efforts to protect the public’s health and the environment.

On a 7-6 vote, the GOP-controlled Assembly Natural Resources Committee objected Wednesday to the Department of Natural Resources’ pollution reduction goals.

But the committee lacks the authority to alter the proposed rules. And the Joint Committee for Review of Administrative Rules — which does have authority — is unlikely to force revisions.

That means Gov. Jim Doyle’s DNR secretary should keep going to enact the tougher yet flexible and cost-effective regulations.

Mercury, a byproduct of burning coal at power plants, can cause nerve damage and increase the risk of heart disease. It accumulates in fish. And the DNR has warned people for years to limit consumption of fish from any state lake, river or stream because of contamination.

Just this month, a Madison environmental group called for signs at 25 popular Dane County fishing spots to warn anglers of health risks from eating too much of the fish they catch. The group surveyed anglers at watering holes and found many eat more fish than is considered safe.

It’s a terrible reality that you can’t drop a hook in any waterway across Wisconsin without some worry that your catch may be tainted.

The DNR has been through a long rulemaking process, involving public input, to craft regulations to address the problem. Several business organizations argue the Doyle administration’s mercury plan goes too far. But several environmental groups complain it doesn’t go far enough.

That suggests the rules balance competing interests in a reasonable way.

Under the rules, coal-burning power plants will have two options. They can cut mercury emissions by 90 percent by 2015. Or they can stretch the deadline to 2021 if they make progress on reducing mercury pollution as well as sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide pollution, which contribute to smog and haze.

Republican lawmakers are right that the rules will cost utilities tens of millions of dollars. But even if that expense is passed on to consumers, the average household will pay just $5 to $12 more annually, the DNR estimates.

That’s a price worth paying to breathe cleaner air and to eventually fish in Wisconsin lakes without fear.