Addressing Mercury Pollution
Across the South, hundreds of river miles and dozens of fish species are on health advisory lists because of high levels of mercury contamination. Mercury is a toxic pollutant that is linked to permanent damage to the central nervous system. Unborn children, breast-fed infants and children exposed to mercury are at risk for lowered intelligence and learning disabilities. Adults exposed to even low amounts of mercury may also be at higher risk for altered sensation, impaired hearing and vision, and motor disturbances linked directly to exposure from eating contaminated fish.
©Charlie Shoffner
This risk is especially great for Southerners. The region's high number of old, coal-fired power plants in the region contribute 60 to 70 percent of the region's mercury pollution. This combines with the region's greater rainfall to bring more mercury out of the air and into our waterways. Also, the abundance of wetlands and the unique ecology of the South's accelerates conversion of mercury into a compound - methylmercury - that is toxic to humans and other life forms.
For these reasons, the Environmental Protection Agency has for years classified mercury as a "hazardous pollutant" subjecting its sources such as coal and oil fired power plants - the largest domestic sources of the pollution -- to the strictest pollution controls. Recently, however, the EPA reversed course and began governing mercury though the Clean Air Mercury Rule, a plan that will delay clean-up by years, allowing even the dirtiest power plants to continue to pollute by buying credits from a cleaner plant across the country. In fact, EPA projects that U.S. power plants will continue to emit nearly 20 tons of mercury into the air every year as late as 2030 under the federal rule.
The Southeast does not have to live with this. SELC is urging states across the Southeast to develop regulations that dramatically reduce mercury emissions and protect the health of their most vulnerable citizens. At the same time, SELC is representing national health organizations in legal action that challenges EPA's failure to properly control mercury emissions from power plants.
