Global Warming News

Public Leaders Hail State’s Power Plant Mercury Reduction Proposal

Chicago, IL—A new report reveals unsafe mercury contamination levels are widespread in Illinois sport fish. According to the report released today by Illinois Public Interest Research Group (PIRG), the average mercury concentration in Illinois sport fish samples was 20% above the federal U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) safe limit for women of average weight who eat fish twice per week.

 “This is the first time a comprehensive analysis of all of the federal and state fish samples has ever been made available to the public,” said Max Muller, the report’s author and environmental advocate at Illinois Public Interest Research Group (PIRG). “Our findings show that mercury contamination is everywhere in Illinois and highlight the need to reduce mercury emissions as much as possible and as soon as possible”

The health harms of mercury are well known: mercury is a potent toxin that puts developing fetuses and children at risk of developmental delays, decreased IQ, and memory and attention difficulties. Higher doses similarly impair adults and also increase the risk of heart attacks. In April 2004, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) scientists estimated that up to one in six women of childbearing age in the U.S. has sufficiently high mercury blood levels to put an unborn child at risk of neurological damage. Humans get most of their mercury from eating fish—and mercury contaminates fish in every body of water in Illinois.

“The health harms of mercury are an established fact, so these finding should worry anyone who might eat these fish.” Miriam Link-Mullison, Jackson County’s Health Department Director, “Long term low-level mercury exposure is dangerous and, unfortunately, common. If we don’t pay a little clean up mercury now, we’ll pay a much greater human health cost later.”

Due to mercury contamination, the Illinois Department of Public Health already warns people to limit their consumption of Illinois predator fish such as bass, flathead catfish, walleye and northern pike—but the data on which those advisories are based hasn’t previously been released to the public. Based on an analysis of this state data, as well as data from a separate national fish testing program, the Illinois PIRG report finds for the first time that the average fish mercury concentration in 36 Illinois counties, 66 individual lakes and streams, and 16 fish species exceeds the U.S. EPA safe limit for a woman of average weight who eats fish twice per week.

“The American Heart Association (AHA) tells us to eat fish twice a week for the fatty acids, but Illinois families can’t follow that advice with local fish, because if they do, they’ll likely exceed the U.S. EPA safe dose of mercury,” said Muller.

“When fisherman have to stop and calculate if it’s safe to eat the fish they catch, it changes recreational fishing to ‘risk assessment fishing.’” Said Wally Bock, board member of Trout Unlimited a group that works to preserve fisheries, “That’s not a good situation, and I’ve no doubt that it’s a drag on the economics of sport fishing, and industry that provides nearly 13,000 jobs for Illinoisans”

The twenty-one coal-fired power plants in Illinois are the single largest source of in-state mercury emissions, emitting more than all other human activities combined. On March 14th, the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA) finalized a strong proposal to eliminate 90 percent of mercury emissions from these plants by 2009. IEPA economic modeling indicates that currently available technologies can meet the 90% capture goal with an increased cost to the average Illinois ratepayer of less than $1.50 per month.

“Most public health problems have many contributing factors and are difficult to solve. But this is a case where most of Illinois’s mercury pollution comes from just 21 power plants, and the technology to shut most of it off is inexpensive and readily available. Said Jack Darin, director of the Illinois Chapter of the Sierra Club. “These plants are over 70 percent of the problem statewide and we can clean them up for less than the price of a cup of coffee per family per month. I wish the solution were always this clear.”

“Our mercury rule will make Illinois a national leader in reducing mercury emissions from power plants. If other states do the same, as they’re beginning to do, we’ll be most of the way there in terms what can be done eliminate these toxic emissions,” Said Director Scott, “and I’ve heard from my counterparts in other states that for Illinois, a major coal burning state, to take the lead on this, it’s easier for them to follow with solutions of their own.

The Illinois proposal is in response to the federal mercury rule that is currently being implemented and is widely regarded as insufficient. The federal rule includes emissions trading and banking provisions, which permit power plants to buy, trade, and save mercury emission credits instead of reducing emissions. The Congressional Research Service estimates that these features of the federal rule will prevent it from meeting its modest reduction targets until after 2030. In response to the federal rule more than a dozen states including the Great Lake states of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, New York, and Pennsylvania as well as Illinois, have proposed or already enacted their own, more protective mercury rules.

The full report, Risky Fishing: Power Plant Mercury Pollution and Illinois Sport Fish, is available online at http://www.illinoispirg.com.

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The Illinois Public Interest Research Group is a non-partisan, non-profit environmental and consumer advocacy group.