Smokestacks
producing most of mercury falling into Lake Michigan
Sep 18, 2005 - Chicago Tribune
Author(s): Michael Hawthorne
CHICAGO -- Contradicting a key part of the Bush administration's
environmental policy, a new federal study estimates most of the mercury
falling into Lake Michigan comes from smokestacks close to the
shoreline.
Sixteen of the top 25 sources of mercury dropped into the lake are
coal-fired power plants, according to the study by the National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Some of the toxic metal comes
from as far away as Nevada and Texas, the study found, but most blows
toward the lake from coal plants and factories in Illinois, Wisconsin,
Michigan and Indiana.
Mercury has long been considered a problem in the Great Lakes. All of
the states ringing the lakes advise anglers to limit eating fish, the
chief source of exposure to a metal that can cause brain damage and
learning difficulties in children and increase the risk of heart disease
in adults.
While there is no question about the health risks of mercury, there
has been considerable debate about limiting emissions from power plants,
the largest man-made source of the pollutant.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced the first- ever
regulations on coal-plant emissions in March, but the plan delayed steep
cuts in mercury pollution for more than a decade. Bush administration
officials said one of the reasons they didn't order faster and deeper
cuts is that mercury from the United States is only a small fraction of
a global problem.
"They're ignoring the science," said U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk, R- Ill.,
who asked NOAA to conduct the Lake Michigan study. "Chicagoland
especially has a big problem with mercury."
Kirk is scheduled to release the study during a hearing Monday at the
Shedd Aquarium. In a sign of how politically charged the results are,
the EPA refused a congressional subcommittee's request to sign off on
the report.
The study builds on published research by NOAA scientists using
computer models to trace mercury pollution in the Great Lakes to
specific sources. It also mirrors findings from the EPA's own
scientists, who have identified the Chicago area as a "hot spot" where
relatively large amounts of mercury fall back to earth.
According to the NOAA study, coal-fired power plants in and around
Chicago account for the largest amount of mercury that wafts into Lake
Michigan. The largest single source is a coal plant along the lake in
Kenosha.
Once mercury falls into waterways, it is converted by bacteria into a
potent form called methylmercury that becomes more concentrated and
dangerous as it moves up the food chain.
Infants and young children are particularly vulnerable to
methylmercury because their nervous systems still are developing.
Although fish are considered good sources of protein and, in some
species, beneficial fatty acids, women of childbearing age, pregnant
women and children as old as 15 are advised to limit how much they eat.
"We're soiling our own nest," said Cameron Davis, executive director
of the Alliance for the Great Lakes. "There may be a global problem with
mercury, but we've got to start addressing it at home."
Under the EPA rule, utilities will have until at least 2018 o reduce
mercury emissions by 70 percent. Power plants with high emissions will
be able to buy credits from cleaner plants to avoid or delay installing
pollution controls.
The trading system is patterned after successful efforts to reduce
sulfur dioxide, the main ingredient in acid rain.
EPA officials had considered ordering more dramatic reductions in
mercury from power plants. But the administration contends that would
have hurt the power industry and done little to improve public health.
(EDITORS: STORY CAN END HERE)
Utilities say it is unclear what happens to mercury once it is
released into the air and that it can travel far from its source.
Meanwhile, many companies are experimenting with various methods to
reduce mercury emissions.
"We realize mercury is a serious issue and hope to find something
that we can deploy at our facilities," said Doug McFarlan, spokesman for
Midwest Generation, which owns five coal plants in the Chicago area.
Kirk wants the trading of mercury credits to be limited in Illinois
and other states with high emissions. Companies could sell credits under
his proposal, but could not buy them from others in order to keep
releasing mercury into the air.
Illinois ranks fifth in the nation in mercury emissions. Power plants
and factories in Chicago and two collar counties, Lake and Will, were
responsible for about a quarter of the 7,022 pounds of mercury released
statewide during 2003, the latest year for which figures are available.
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