Mercury Emissions Up at Coal-Burning Power Plants

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***Mercury Emissions Up at Coal-Burning Power Plants****WASHINGTON, DC*, November 21, 2008 (ENS) -http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/nov2008/2008-11-21-092.aspThe top 50 most-polluting coal-burning power plants in the UnitedStates emitted 20 tons of toxic mercury into the air in 2007, finds anew report from the nonprofit Environmental Integrity Project. Of thetop 10 mercury emitting power plants, all but one reported anincrease as compared to 2006.Once released into the atmosphere, mercury settles in lakes andrivers, where it moves up the food chain to humans who eatcontaminated fish. The Centers for Disease Control has found that sixpercent of American women have mercury in their blood at levels thatwould put a fetus at risk of neurological damage. Mercury's harmful effects that may be passed from the mother to thefetus include brain damage, mental retardation, incoordination,blindness, seizures, and inability to speak, according to the federalAgency for Toxic Substances. Children poisoned by mercury may developproblems of their nervous and digestive systems, and kidney damage. More Southern Company power plants are among the dirtiest mercuryemitters than those of any other company, according to the report,which is based on data reported to the U.S. Environmental ProtectionAgency.Southern Company's power plant, in Jefferson County, Alabama,tops the list of mercury emitters, reporting nearly a ton of mercuryair pollution in 2007, the most recent period for which data isavailable. This represents a 13.57 percent increase over the plant's2006 reported emissions. In April 2006, the plant's operator, Alabama Power, announced itwould spend $200 million to remove nitrogen oxide emissions by 2008and sulfur dioxide emissions by 2011, but no mercury removaltechnology has been announced for the plant. In total, eight Southern Company plants in Georgia and Alabama areranked among the top 50 power plant mercury emitters. The dozen states with plants emitting the most mercury are - in orderfrom highest to lowest - Texas, Pennsylvania, Alabama, Georgia, Ohio,Indiana, North Dakota, Missouri, Kansas, North Carolina, Wisconsinand Arkansas. Texas power plants hold five slots among the nation's highest 10mercury emitters. From Austin, Environmental Integrity Project attorney Ilan Levinsaid, "When the original Clean Air Act was passed in 1970, theelectric utility industry persuaded Congress to not impose strictpollution controls on old power plants, because they would soon bereplaced by newer state-of-the-art facilities. Yet despite theindustry's promises, many of the nation's oldest and dirtiest powerplants continue to operate." "Pollution controls that dramatically reduce emissions are widelyavailable, and already being used at many plants," said Levin. "But,until the public and policymakers hold the electric utility industryto its promised cleanup of the nation's oldest and dirtiest powerplants, Americans will continue to bear unnecessary health andenvironmental costs." The Environmental Integrity Project report says, "Activated carboninjection, which is commercially available and has been testedthrough the Department of Energy's Clean Coal Power Initiative, canachieve mercury reductions of 90 percent on both bituminous andsub-bituminous coals." "In addition," the report says, "mercury can be significantly reducedas a co-benefit of controls for other pollutants, such as fabricfilters, sulfur dioxide scrubbers, and selective catalyticreduction." Jan Jarrett, president and chief executive of Citizens forPennsylvania's Future, said, "These continued high mercury emissionsfrom Pennsylvania plants clearly demonstrate the need forPennsylvania's state-specific mercury rule that was adopted inFebruary of 2007." "Our rule requires an 80 percent reduction in mercury emissions frompower plants by 2010 and a 90 percent reduction by 2015 and does notallow power plants to trade toxic mercury emissions," he said. Coal-fired power plants are the single largest source of mercury airpollution, accounting for roughly 40 percent of all mercury emissionsnationwide, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Themercury they emit is affecting national parks, warns Bart Melton, ananalyst with the nonprofit National Parks Conservation Association. "National parks across the U.S. suffer from high concentrations ofmercury pollution - a key source of which are coal-fired powerplants. At the Great Smoky Mountains, mercury pollution iscontinually showered over the park, and then works its way up thefood chain, threatening the health of park visitors and wildlife,"Melton said. "We need to shut off the toxic mercury spigot atcoal-fired power plants to keep national park visitors and wildlifehealthy." While some of the dirtiest plants are reporting reductions in mercuryemissions since 2006, the majority of the worst 50 plants increasedtheir mercury emissions through 2007. In 2005, over the objections of environmentalists, the U.S. EPAintroduced a weak cap-and-trade rule, which would have allowed powerplants to either reduce their own mercury pollution or buy pollutioncredits from other plants. In February 2008, a federal appeals courtruled that EPA's approach to power plant mercury emissions violatesthe Clean Air Act, and vacated the EPA regulation. The Environmental Integrity Project was established in March 2002 toadvocate for more effective enforcement of environmental laws. Theorganization was founded by Schaeffer, who served as director ofthe U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Office of RegulatoryEnforcement. Schaeffer resigned in 2002 after publicly expressing hisfrustration with efforts of the Bush administration to weakenenforcement of the Clean Air Act and other environmental laws.

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