Children's Health Panel Red Flags Bush Mercury Plan

By J.R. Pegg

WASHINGTON, DC, February 2, 2004 (ENS) - Infants, children, and women of childbearing age are not adequately protected by the Bush administration's proposal to reduce mercury emissions from coal fired power plants warns a federal advisory committee on children's health protection. In a letter released last week, the panel urged the White House to reconsider its proposal, which environmentalists and public health organizations say is far too lax.

The 27 member Children's Health Protection Advisory Committee, which advises the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on regulations relevant to children, consists of representatives from state and federal agencies, environmental groups, universities, and industry.

"From our understanding, the unique vulnerabilities of children, infants, and women of childbearing age were not considered in the development of EPA's proposed rules," the committee wrote. "We recommend that EPA promulgate a mercury rule that results in the most child protective and cost effective reductions of mercury from coal fired power plants that are possible, since they represent the largest remaining source of mercury emissions in the United States."

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

"The fact that this advisory committee, which includes representatives from Bayer, British Petroleum, Monsanto, and Procter & Gamble, unanimously signed off on this letter should make Administrator [Mike] Leavitt sit up and take notice," said Linda Greer, an environmental toxicologist with the Natural Resources Defense Council.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that eight percent of women of childbearing age have unsafe levels of mercury in their bodies. This puts the number of babies at risk of mercury poisoning at about 300,000.

Mercury emissions from coal fired power plants are currently unregulated - these facilities emit some 48 tons of mercury each year, accounting for about 40 percent of the nation's mercury pollution.

Critics say President Bush is falling short on his commitment to children's environmental health programs. (Photo by Paul Morse courtesy the White House)

Critics believe the Bush plan is a drastic shift the regulation of mercury emissions because it requires the EPA to revise its December 2000 finding that such emissions should be regulated as hazardous air pollution. That finding requires the EPA to regulate emissions of the toxic metal using "maximum achievable control technologies" (MACT).

In 2001 the EPA said that the use of MACT standards could reduce mercury emissions by some 90 percent - to 5.5 million tons - by 2008.

MACT standards have been used to rein in the two other largest sources of the toxic metal - medical and municipal waste incinerators.

Those regulations have reduced emissions from medical and municipal waste incinerators 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.

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

The Bush administration has accepted this position and says a mercury emissions trading program will cut emissions faster and at less cost.

Its plan is twofold - one proposed rule calls for power plants to reduce emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide. As a secondary benefit from the technologies used to cut those pollutants, some 14 tons of mercury emissions could be removed from the U.S. environment within two years, the Bush administration says.

Under the second proposed rule, the EPA would set an industry cap on mercury emissions in 2010 and allow owners of coal fired power plants to trade emissions credits to reduce the total amount of mercury emitted to 15 tons by 2018 - a reduction of 70 percent from current levels.

In its letter to Leavitt, the committee wrote that "while cost effectiveness is important, the priority should be to protect children's health in a timely manner."

The panel expressed its concern that "mercury emissions are not adequately addressed when relying on reduced mercury emissions as a side benefit achieved by the rule ... designed to reduce emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides."

In addition, the committee raised concerns that the proposed cap and trade program "may not address existing hot spots and may create new local hot spots for mercury, disproportionately impacting local communities."

A report in December 2003 by the environmental group Environmental Defense analyzed air pollution modeling data from the EPA and found that local sources commonly contribute 50 to 80 percent of mercury deposition at the nation's current hot spots.

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 estimating that on average some 70 percent of mercury deposits come from global sources.

Last year 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. (Photo by George Gentry courtesy U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)

The committee recommended that the EPA evaluate the Bush administration's proposal's health risks to infants, children, and women of childbearing age and how those risks might be different under other regulatory options.

It also called on the agency to analyze the technologies, costs, health impact, and economic benefits before choosing a regulatory option and to evaluate the possibility that hot spots could result from the proposed trading program.

The EPA has yet to release information about the number or location of public meetings it plans to hold on the final mercury rule, which is set to be issued in December 2004.

Officials say information about public meetings will be posted here.