Southerners at greater risk from EPA failure to cut mercury pollution

Washington, D.C. – Citing the serious and irreversible effects of mercury pollution on the brain development of children and fetuses and other public health effects, Physicians for Social Responsibility, the American Nurses Association, the American Public Health Association, and the American Academy of Pediatrics, represented by the Southern Environmental Law Center, are joining a legal challenge against the Environmental Protection Agency for failing to properly control mercury emissions from power plants, the largest source of mercury pollution in the U.S. In their challenge, to be filed with the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals on June 14, the four national health groups contend that EPA’s actions violate the Clean Air Act by exempting power plants from the maximum pollution control requirements.

Power plants in the Southeast were responsible for one-fifth of mercury pollution nationwide in 2001, putting residents of the region at a higher risk for mercury contamination. This is partially because of the high number of old, coal-fired power plants in the region that contribute disproportionately to the nation’s mercury pollution. While power plants are responsible for 40 percent of mercury pollution nationwide, in some states in the Southeast, such as Alabama, Tennessee, Virginia, North Carolina, and Georgia, power plants contribute 60 to 70 percent of mercury emissions.

Mercury is a toxic pollutant emitted from power plants 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 cardiovascular disease and infertility. For these reasons, mercury has been listed since 1990 as a “hazardous pollutant” under the Clean Air Act, requiring stricter controls than conventional pollutants.

Despite clear evidence and EPA’s own findings to the contrary, EPA announced in March that it would remove power plants from its list of mercury sources requiring stricter controls. Last month, the Bush administration followed this announcement by allowing power plants to regulate mercury under a “cap and trade” program that treats mercury as a conventional pollutant, subject to less stringent controls and allowing for reductions much later and much lower than other hazardous pollutants. In fact, EPA’s proposed cap is even weaker than industry’s proposal.

The cap and trade program is particularly damaging to the Southeast as some power plants in the region will find it cheaper to buy credits to emit higher levels of mercury than to implement pollution controls. This will lead to toxic “hot spots” in the region.

The four national groups, representing some 300,000 health professionals nationwide, will file on Tuesday a motion to intervene in mercury lawsuits recently filed by environmental groups and 13 state attorneys general against the EPA.