Group Faults Epa for Ignoring Pollutants

Group Faults Epa for Ignoring Pollutants

Aug 29 - Buffalo News

New York rates in the top 21 states for airborne releases of four types of pollutants that an environmental group says will be subject to no controls if a proposed Environmental Protection Agency rule is put in place.

The New York Public Interest Research Group released a report Thursday noting that power plants in Dunkirk and Jamestown were among the top 100 plants in the country for releases of lead, a metal linked to developmental and reproductive problems.

The Dunkirk station, which was 94th on the list, released 570 pounds of lead, while the Samuel Carlson station in Jamestown released 567 pounds and was 95th on the list.

The Dunkirk plant also ranked 56th among plants in arsenic emission, with 565 pounds, while the AES Somerset plant in Barker ranked 123rd, with 23 pounds.

The Somerset plant ranked 34th for emission of dioxins, a known carcinogen. The plant released only 3 grams, but dioxin accumulates in the environment and can have severe health impacts at very small levels.

The Dunkirk plant and the Huntley generating station in the Town of Tonawanda ranked 69th and 84th, respectively, for release of acid gases like sulfuric, hydrochloric and hydrofluoric acids.

Information contained in the study comes from an analysis of the EPA's Toxic Release Inventory, in which polluters must detail what they have discharged. The figures are for 2002, the most recent year available.

"These are chemicals that are getting into the air and water and causing public health problems," said NYPIRG's Melinda Sobin, who charged that the EPA's proposed rule on limiting mercury emissions would have no controls for pollutants cited in the report.

"Not only can we see there is a problem, the report highlights the fact that something can be done about it," she said.

The report notes that existing measures, if implemented at all coal-fired plants in the country, could cut release of metals -- except mercury -- by 94 percent and acid gases by 96 percent.

EPA spokeswoman Cynthia Bergman said the agency has concentrated on limiting mercury emissions because that is "the pollutant of primary concern."

She added, "Even though EPA has determined these other hazardous air pollutants do not present a risk that warrants regulation at the level of mercury and nickel, reductions of these other hazardous air pollutants will occur in conjunction with reductions of conventional pollutants."

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