Update: Action Needed on Mercury, Victory on a Different Front
October 10, 2007
JOE MILLER
On September 24 I sent my newsletter subscribers an "Action Needed on Mercury" alert and sign-on letter from the organizations Improving Kids' Environment (1) and Save the Dunes (2). The alert encouraged readers to urge the Indiana Air Pollution Control Board (APCB) at its October 3 meeting to adopt regulations that would put 10,000 fewer lbs. of mercury from coal-fired power plants into the environment during the period 2010-2025. IDEM's position was that Indiana should adopt the much weaker minimum federal Clean Air Mercury Rule (CAMR) for coal-fired power plants.
- http://www.ikecoalition.org/Mercury/CAMR_Action_needed_%20now_9-24-07.pdf
- http://savedunes.org/news/index.php?uid=78ce92ee0a59
So what did the APCB decide? In an article in the online Bloomington Alternative today, Thomas Healy (3) reports that "once again the Daniels administration has opted to protect the financial interests of polluters at the expense of public health," with the Air Pollution Control Board voting 11 - 1 to adopt the minimum federal Clean Air Mercury Rule (CAMR). For a discussion of the convoluted, short-sighted, public-health-be-damned thought behind ABCB's decision, see Tom's article.
One of the many important points in the article is that the Bush administration in January 2004, influenced heavily by energy industry lobbyists, switched from an earlier EPA position that utilities should install "maximum achievable control technology" (MACT) to minimize pollutants, to a weaker position, the Clean Air Mercury Rule (CAMR), that replaced maximum control with a system based on "caps" (limits on emissions) and "trading" (credits that can be banked or sold). CAMR became official US EPA policy in May, 2005, and the Air Pollution Control Board made it official Indiana policy on October 3.
Tom's article goes on to note:
Opposition to the cap-and-trade system is widespread. Sixteen state agencies have joined environmental groups to file suit against the cap-and-trade provision of CAMR, arguing for a return to the MACT standard.
Concerns over the cap-and-trade plan center around the ability of utilities to continue operating outdated, dirtier facilities. Environmentalists, public health officials and social justice advocates fear that such a program will create "hot spots" -- high concentrations of mercury around older plants -- and delay much needed cleanup, remediation and/or decommissioning....
In a 2004 Center for Progressive Regulation white paper, "Mercury, Risk and Justice," author Catherine A. O'Neill writes that the adoption of CAMR's cap-and-trade provisions will likely exacerbate mercury levels in some areas of the country, especially the Great Lakes region. She writes that exposure will be borne "disproportionately by Native Americans, Asian-Americans, other communities of color and low-income communities in this and other regions of the country who eat large amounts of mercury-contaminated fish...."
[Even] IDEM's Web site states, "Mercury is toxic in small quantities. It only takes 3 grams (approximately 1/25 of a teaspoon) of mercury to contaminate a 60-acre lake...."
Mercury exposure poses a risk of developmental problems and learning disabilities in children. Nevertheless, despite pleas from groups like the March of Dimes, the Indiana Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Public Health Association, and Improving Kids' Environment to safeguard the health of children, the APCB rep from the Department of Health consistently voted against stronger protections....
So much for the US EPA's, IDEM's, APCB's, or Daniels' concern about maximally reducing the health and environmental problems created by mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants.
A Happier Ending
To end on a much brighter note, although not in any way restoring MACT or undoing CAMR, on Tuesday the American Electric Power Co. settled a suit with the "EPA, a dozen environmental groups, and eight states" for 4.6 billion dollars to reduce emissions causing acid rain and smog. The audio and transcript of the story are available at this link (4).
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Joseph MillerDepartment of Psychology
51 Madeleva
Saint Mary's College
Notre Dame, IN 46556
St. Joe Valley Greens, South Bend, IN