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The Columbus Dispatch
www.dispatch.com
Mercury reduction ordered
EPA rules for power plants to be set in 2004
Michael Hawthorne
Friday, December 15, 2000
Federal environmental officials yesterday ordered power
companies to reduce emissions of mercury, a toxic element
that can cause neurological problems for newborn and young
children.
Final reduction rules will not be issued until 2004.
A naturally occurring, long-lasting substance that builds
up in the body over time, mercury has become so pervasive
in the environment that state health officials advise women
of childbearing age and children 6 or younger to limit eating
fish caught in all Ohio lakes and streams.
Low-level mercury poisoning leads to learning disabilities
for 60,000 newborns nationwide each year, the National Academy
of Sciences has reported.
Coal-fired power plants account for only 1 percent of emissions
worldwide. But the plants are responsible for a third of
the mercury released each year in the United States.
"Mercury from power plants settles over waterways,
polluting rivers and lakes and contaminating fish,'' said
Carol Browner, administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency. "Exposure to mercury poses real risks to public
health, especially to children and developing fetuses.''
Congress blocked the EPA from regulating mercury two years
ago at the behest of power companies. Opponents softened
their rhetoric after a panel of scientists convened by the
academy backed the limits earlier this year.
"EPA's decision was too long in coming, but it was
based on clear and compelling evidence,'' said Kurt Waltzer,
air-quality manager for the Ohio Environmental Council.
High levels of mercury found in fish led the Ohio Department
of Health to issue a statewide consumption advisory in 1997.
Unlike other contaminants that can be eliminated or reduced
by removing the fatty parts of fish, mercury levels cannot
because the element binds to the meat.
Power plants emit about 50 tons of mercury a year. Of that
amount, plants owned by American Electric Power are responsible
for about 6 tons, according to information the Columbus
company provided to the EPA.
"We will certainly support and work with any agency
to come up with sensible regulations based on sound science,''
said Tom Ayres, an AEP spokesman.
Other AEP officials complained earlier this year that they
don't have the technology to reduce mercury emissions. The
company now points to federal pilot projects that are studying
whether injecting carbon into the exhaust of power plants
will do the job.
One of the first test sites is the Zimmer plant near Cincinnati,
owned by Cinergy Corp.
Utilities will have more time to develop the technology.
The EPA doesn't plan to propose specific regulations until
2003 and won't issue final rules until 2004.
State regulators also are providing an incentive.
Faced with a court order to reduce smog- forming pollutants,
the Ohio EPA wants to give utilities more time to comply
if they install controls that not only reduce nitrogen oxide,
a key ingredient in smog, but also limit emissions of mercury
and sulfur dioxide.
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