Fighting Mercury Rollbacks in Virginia
Gov. Kaine responds to SELC's advocacy - amends mercury trading bill to add stronger mercury protections
Fish from hundreds of miles of Virginia rivers are unsafe to eat because they contain high levels of toxic mercury. The Virginia Department of Health now warns pregnant women and children to avoid eating any of these fish because of the frightening link between mercury pollution and developmental and learning disabilities.
©Dwight Dyke
Mercury pollution and contaminated fish threaten the livelihood of commercial fishermen - which contribute more than $170 million to Virginia's economy.
Mercury pollution poses a threat to Virginia's economy as well. In recent years, Virginia's commercial watermen landed seafood valued at more than $170 million and recreational fishing supported more than 10,000 Virginia jobs, led to $604 million in retail sales, and $11.5 million in state tax collections. Mercury contamination of fisheries threatens this way of life.
Controlling mercury pollution by avoiding contaminated fish and polluted rivers is not the answer. Real solutions must focus on slashing mercury emissions at the source so that fish populations have a chance to recover. The largest source of mercury pollution in Virginia is coal-fired power plants. In fact, according to the EPA, 19 Virginia power plants were responsible for 69 percent of in-state mercury emissions, far above the national average.
For these reasons, EPA rightly determined in 2000 that mercury emitted from coal-fired power plants must be regulated as a "hazardous pollutant" and be subject to the the most state-of-the-art pollution controls. This common-sense approach to mercury pollution ended in 2005 when EPA, without scientific evidence, declared that mercury would not be regulated by requiring plants to adopt the most effective pollution controls to curb their mercury emissions. Instead, through adoption of the Clean Air Mercury Rule, EPA attempts to control mercury through a cap-and-trade scheme 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 federal rule will also exacerbate the problem of mercury "hot spots" in Virginia - ares where mercury levels in fish are already above EPA's recommended level.
Virginia's Department of Environmental Quality has until November, 2006 to adopt its own rules. In January, the agency's Air Pollution Control Board offered two strategies for cutting pollution - both stronger than the federal rule but legislation introduced by industry lobbyists overrode the agency and required the State Air Pollution Control Board to adopt the flawed and ineffective federal rule.
In response to SELC's advocacy, in April, 2006, Gov. Kaine amended that mercury trading legislation – HB 1055 and SB 651 – to add stronger mercury protections. The amendment offered by the Governor will require the Mirant Corporation to actually reduce mercury emissions locally instead of purchasing pollution credits from anywhere across the country, even as far away as Alaska or Hawaii.
The original legislation also codified Dominion Power’s and Appalachian Power’s existing plans to comply with the federal rule but required nothing of Mirant. With Kaine’s amendment, Mirant will either have to install mercury controls at its Potomac River Generating Station in Alexandria, or at nearby Mirant power plants in Maryland. Mirant’s Alexandria plant is a notoriously dirty and decrepit facility. It remains on the Department of Environmental Quality’s high priority violator list for past Clean Air Act violations.
Much more work remains to be done to provide meaningful protections from mercury contamination in Virginia. In addition to closing the Mirant loophole, SELC has advocated for a 90 percent reduction in mercury pollution from all power plants and other industrial sources within the state, and an absolute prohibition on mercury trading, recognizing that the Clean Air Act does not allow the trading of toxics. SELC will continue to work with partner groups to further strengthen Virginia's mercury regulations.
