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WASHINGTON,
D.C. – U.S. Representative Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) issued today’s “Bush Administration’s
Misstatement of the Day” on the environment.
Mike
Leavitt, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator, said:
“Our
work carries an inherent duty to leave things better for the next generation.”
(December 2, 2003)
However,
according to a report released by the Environmental Defense, ten states,
including Illinois “have pockets of airborne mercury pollution that
pose serious public health risks, especially to pregnant women and their
fetuses.” (Washington Post, 12/10/03)
The
data, which was collected from the Environmental Protection Agency, “showed
that the vast majority of mercury pollution in these ‘hot spots’ came from
nearby coal-fired power plants and other facilities.” (Washington Post,
12/10/03)
Instead
of issuing “strong mercury standards for power plants that reduce mercury
pollution from 48 tons today to about 5 tons, or a 90 percent reduction,”
the Bush Administration and “new EPA Administrator Mike Leavitt revealed
last week that they favor an alternative approach.” The proposal “would
place mercury under a less stringent category of the Clean Air Act, where
it could be regulated along with sulfur dioxide, carbon dioxide and other
pollutants under a ‘cap and trade’ program.” (Washington Post, 12/10/03)
Report
Cites 10 States' Mercury Pollution
Environmental
Advocacy Group Uses EPA Data
to
Pinpoint 'Hot Spots'
By
Eric Pianin
Washington
Post Staff Writer
Wednesday,
December 10, 2003; Page A02
Ten
states, including Maryland, have pockets of airborne mercury pollution
that pose serious public health risks, especially to pregnant women and
their fetuses, according to a new study by an environmental advocacy group.
The
report by Environmental Defense, based on six-month-old computer modeling
data from the Environmental Protection Agency, showed that the vast majority
of mercury pollution in these "hot spots" came from nearby coal-fired power
plants and other facilities. The finding runs counter to assertions by
the utility industry that mercury pollution is globally ubiquitous -- literally
carried around the world by the wind -- and cannot be adequately regulated
by federal standards.
The
Electric Power Research Institute, an industry group, estimates that on
average 70 percent of mercury deposits come from global sources. But in
nine of the 10 states with the worst mercury concentrations, power plants
or other facilities within those states contributed 50 to 80 percent of
the mercury, according to the Environmental Defense study. The EPA did
not dispute the report's findings but said it is pursuing its own methods
to reduce mercury emissions.
The
annual mercury concentrations ranged from a low of 65 grams of mercury
per square kilometer in Pennsylvania and Tennessee to 125 to 127 grams
per square kilometer in Indiana and Michigan. Maryland registered 95 grams
per square kilometer. Other states with mercury problems are Florida, Illinois,
South Carolina, North Carolina and Texas, the report said. By comparison,
relatively safe states with few local sources of mercury pollution registered
mercury deposits of 10 to 15 grams per square kilometer.
While
mercury pollution from medical and municipal waste incinerators has all
but disappeared since federal and state authorities imposed tough regulations
in the early 1990s, coal-fired power plants remain unregulated and account
for about 40 percent of U.S. mercury emissions, the largest single source.
Power plants generate about 48 tons of mercury pollution a year, roughly
the same as a decade ago.
"Reducing
power plant pollution is critical to reducing local mercury deposition
and avoiding the dangerous contamination of fish, wildlife and people,"
the Environmental Defense report concluded. "EPA should issue strong mercury
standards for power plants that reduce mercury pollution from 48 tons today
to about 5 tons, or a 90 percent reduction."
Jim
Owen, a spokesman for the Edison Electric Institute, a utility industry
advocacy group, said, "We disagree with the study's conclusion that the
public is at great risk from mercury from coal-fired power plants." He
said other studies "suggest that hot spots are not a major health concern,"
adding that other factors may be at play in causing health problems. "The
basic message is: It all depends on how you factor your assumptions."
Mercury
is a potent neurotoxin that, like lead, threatens the brains and nervous
systems of fetuses and young children. Exposure from eating contaminated
fish can lead to a number of neurological problems, including learning
and attention disabilities and mental retardation. Forty-three states have
issued advisories to limit consumption of mercury-laden fish.
The
new report may fuel a controversy over the Bush administration's plan for
regulating mercury emissions. Until recently, the EPA appeared on track
to require individual power plants to reduce mercury emissions and other
toxic pollutants by as much as 90 percent within three to four years by
using the "maximum achievable control technology."
But
the White House and new EPA Administrator Mike Leavitt revealed last week
that they favor an alternative approach. It would place mercury under a
less stringent category of the Clean Air Act, where it could be regulated
along with sulfur dioxide, carbon dioxide and other pollutants under a
"cap and trade" program.
That
approach would set an overall industry target of reducing emissions by
70 percent by 2018. Power plants with serious pollution problems could
buy "credits" from cleaner-operating companies in order to help meet the
industry-wide goal. A similar approach was used in a successful program
begun in 1990 to combat acid rain under the Clean Air Act.
Administration
officials say the new approach would achieve greater pollution reductions
than was likely to occur under the previous plan, which they considered
complicated and certain to draw industry resistance.
"The
EPA is mandating, for the first time, a 70 percent cut in mercury emissions
from power plants," EPA spokeswoman Cynthia Bergman said yesterday. "We
will go from zero regulation to a mandatory 70 percent cut. This will force
steep emission cuts and reduce the likelihood of hot spots from occurring.
Should hot spots occur, states would have flexibility to take additional
measures."
Critics
say the move's net effect is to require substantially smaller reductions
in mercury emissions than otherwise could be achieved and add nearly a
decade to the time it would take the industry to implement mercury-reduction
technology. |
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