Report Warns of Mercury Hot Spots

By J.R. Pegg

WASHINGTON, DC, December 10, 2003 (ENS) - The Bush administration's proposal to allow power plants to trade mercury emissions credits is a dangerous plan that compromises public health and ignores the local impacts from mercury pollution, environmentalists say. A new report from Environmental Defense documents how mercury emissions from power plants contribute to local "hot spots" of contamination - a problem the organization says the Bush plan will make worse.

The report analyzes air pollution modeling date from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and finds that local sources commonly contribute 50 to 80 percent of mercury deposition at the nation's hot spots.

According to the report, the top 10 states for mercury hot spots - ranked by the most severe hot spot in each state - are Indiana, Missouri, Maryland, Florida, Illinois, South Carolina, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Texas and Tennessee.

Local pollution sources account for more than 70 percent of deposition in hot spots in Indiana, Michigan and Maryland, the report details.

The finding refutes a key argument by supporters of the cap and trade system, who say local hot spots are not a serious problem. Industry representatives consistently cite figures from the Electric Power Research Industry that estimate that on average some 70 percent of mercury deposits come from global sources.

Coal-fired power plants contribute 40 percent of new U.S. mercury emissions, but are not subject to any mercury controls. (Photo courtesy New Mexico Solar Energy Association)

"Mercury hot spots sound the alarm for strong national limits on dangerous mercury pollution," said Michael Shore, author of the report and a senior policy analyst with Environmental Defense, a national non profit environmental organization with more than 400,000 members. "Coal fired power plants should not be let off the hook."

Coal fired power plants currently emit some 48 tons of mercury each year and are the nation's largest source of new mercury emissions, contributing some 40 percent of the U.S. total.

There are currently no regulations to limit mercury emissions from coal fired power plants, but the federal government has reined in the two other large sources of the toxic metal - medical and municipal waste incinerators.

Regulations developed under the Clean Air Act have reduced emissions from these two sources by more than 90 percent in less than a decade, and environmentalists believe the law sets an appropriate course for reducing mercury emissions from power plants as well.

Under terms of a court approved settlement agreement with environmental groups, the EPA is required to issue proposed regulations limiting mercury emissions from power plants by December 15, 2003 and issue final rules by December 15, 2004.

That rulemaking centers on adopting a "maximum achievable control technology" (MACT) standard under the Clean Air Act - supporters say these technologies are available and could reduce mercury emissions by some 90 percent by 2007.

But the coal fired power plant industry says commercial technologies are too new and expensive to achieve such reductions and argues that if EPA proceeds with this rulemaking, utilities will switch from coal to natural gas.

"Cap and trade programs for mercury deserve our serious attention," said Scott Segal, director of the Electric Reliability Coordinating Council, a lobbying group representing power companies. "And inflexible approach to mercury would have profound implications for natural gas price and supply, and therefore for America's most venerable consumers."

The Bush administration has accepted this position and says a mercury emissions trading program will cut emissions faster and at less cost. Its proposed rule would cap mercury emissions at 34 tons by 2010 and 15 tons by 2018 - a reduction of 70 percent from current levels.

Environmental Defense has been a vocal advocate of using the cap and trade mechanism to reduce air pollution, but the organization says it is "inappropriate" to use such a program to address an air toxic such as mercury - in particular given the concern about local hot spots.

The primary health concern comes from eating fish contaminated with mercury. (Photo by George Gentry courtesy U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)

This will create more hot spots, Environmental Defense says, and in effect postpones measures to restrict allowable levels, leaving hundreds of thousands of newborns and children vulnerable.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control estimates that eight percent of women of childbearing age have unsafe levels of mercury in their bodies - this puts the number of at risk babies at some 300,000.

Airborne mercury falls into surface waters where it can accumulate in streams and oceans. Bacteria in the water transform mercury into methylmercury, which fish absorb when they eat aquatic organisms and humans absorb when they eat fish.

Scientists have shown that methylmercury can cause brain and nerve damage and studies indicate children and women of childbearing age are at a disproportionate risk.

In 2002, some 30 percent of U.S. lakes and 13 percent of rivers were under active mercury advisories, which urge people to avoid or limit consumption of fish due to high levels of mercury.

Some states are not waiting for the federal government to act. In 2003, Connecticut became the first state in the country to regulate mercury pollution from coal fired power plants, approving regulations to cut these emissions by 86 percent. Other states including Massachusetts, Wisconsin, and New Hampshire have proposed or are considering new tightened standards.

"There is no excuse for EPA not to issue strong mercury standards for power plants to reduce mercury," says Shore. "In the meantime, more states should take the lead in controlling mercury pollution, especially those with mercury hot spots, to protect our children, our wildlife and our lakes and rivers."