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Great Lakes
Article:
Activists want tighter law on mercury
MERCURY LEVELS: A group asks for Coleman's help to speed
a decrease in mercury pollution.
By Steve Kuchera
Duluth News Tribune
July 15th, 2004
Members of the Mercury-Free Minnesota Campaign came to
Duluth on Wednesday to call for greater reductions of
the toxic element.
With a huge inflated largemouth bass and Lake Superior
as a backdrop, they called on Sen. Norm Coleman to use
whatever influence he has with President Bush to tighten
limits on mercury emissions being proposed for power-generation
plants.
The tougher limits are needed "to protect all of
us in Minnesota and the Midwest from mercury poisoning,"
said Clean Water Action Alliance organizer Rosie Loeffler-Kemp.
Coal-burning power plants are America's largest industrial
source of mercury, emitting an estimated 48 tons of mercury
annually. Mercury that settles on water can be converted
by bacteria into a more toxic form, methylmercury, which
accumulates in fish. Eating too many mercury-laden fish
can damage kidneys, the heart, and the immunity and nervous
systems.
Mercury in fish and seafood is of special concern to
children or women who are pregnant, nursing or may become
pregnant because it can affect the developing brain and
nervous system of their children.
"I am six months pregnant, and I'm concerned about
the health of my baby," speaker Kris Schneeweis of
Duluth said. "Fish is supposed to be brain food and
good for my child, but I'm afraid to eat fish from Minnesota's
lakes and rivers knowing that the entire state is under
serious mercury advisory alerts."
As many as 60,000 American children annually may develop
neurological problems, including learning disabilities,
because of low-level mercury contamination through their
mother prior to birth, found an 18-month study by the
National Academy of Sciences released in 2000.
The EPA is developing rules to limit power plant mercury
emissions. The agency already has cut emissions of airborne
mercury by more than 90 percent from other large industrial
sources, including municipal waste combustors and medical
waste incinerators.
For power plants, however, the president has proposed
a rule that would require about a 70 percent reduction
by 2018. Mercury-Free Minnesota is calling for a 90 percent
reduction by 2010.
"The Bush administration should stop listening to
the polluters and start protecting our children's health
and the environment," said Carin Skoog, National
Environmental Trust Minnesota representative. "We
want to know if Sen. Coleman is going to... demand that
the EPA start protecting the health of all Minnesotans."
The EPA recently finished taking public comments on the
issue. It's expected to release its final rules next year.
In a statement, Coleman noted that he successfully sought
an extension of the EPA's public comment period so Minnesotans's
concerns could be heard.
Coleman added that he's pleased Minnesota utilities are
voluntarily working to reduce mercury.
"We know there is a way to reduce mercury emissions
while sustaining and growing jobs in our state, and I
will continue to press EPA to work towards that end,"
he said.
But drastic reductions in the amount of mercury coming
from American power plants doesn't mean the amount of
mercury falling on America will decrease that much, said
Mike Miller, vice president of the Electric Power Research
Institute, a nonprofit research and development organization
funded primarily by power companies.
"Seventy-five percent of the mercury being deposited
in the U.S. is coming from overseas because there is so
much being generated over there," he said.
Miller added that it has not been demonstrated that it's
possible to reduce mercury emissions from all power plants
by 90 percent for any length of time.
Duluth was the second Minnesota stop for the inflated
bass, which the National Environmental Trust is taking
around the country to raise awareness about mercury. Campaign
members spent the day along Duluth's Lakewalk handing
out literature and postcards addressed to Coleman.
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