This Monday we petitioned the Iowa DNR to protect Iowans from the Bush
administration's mercury plan and to issue fish advisories. Today the Des
Moines Register ran this article. Its on the front page of the Metro
section, above the fold, with an eyecatching graphic and the subheading
"Sierra Club had criticized Bush stance on pollution."
http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20041008/NEWS03/4100
80346&SearchID=73186239050585
EPA defends mercury position
By PERRY BEEMAN <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
REGISTER STAFF WRITER
October 8, 2004
The nation's top environmental official, in a visit to Des Moines this week,
disputed a charge by activists that the Bush administration isn't doing
enough to limit mercury pollution.
Michael Leavitt, EPA administrator and a former Utah governor, said the new
rule he plans to sign will lead to deep cuts in mercury pollution and the
first limits on how much of the naturally occurring element comes out of
coal-fired power plants. A main goal is preventing neurological problems in
children who eat mercury-contaminated fish.
"We view mercury as a toxic," he said. "We believe it needs to be regulated.
. . . It's a very serious problem." He added that mercury emissions are not
increasing, as some environmentalists contend, and in fact have been cut in
half in recent history.
"I will sign the first final rule limiting mercury emissions from coal-fired
power plants," said Leavitt, whose staff is sifting through 600,000 public
comments on the proposal. He plans to sign the rule March 15.
Mercury pollution is an issue because it contaminates fish. Children who eat
large amounts of fish polluted with mercury sometimes face delayed
neurological development. Many states warn women of child-bearing age and
young children to limit how much fish they eat.
Iowa is one of five states that have no warning about mercury contamination
in fish. Iowa Department of Natural Resources spokesman Kevin Baskins said
the department is considering a mercury advisory. However, state fisheries
workers have said the annual check of fish filets has not turned up signs of
high mercury pollution here.
Many states are issuing general warnings encouraging young children, nursing
mothers and women who may become pregnant to eat no more than one meal of
freshwater fish a week.
People who eat fish they catch in Iowa rivers and lakes have mixed views on
the mercury threat.
Michael LaValle, manager of the Embassy Club in Des Moines and an avid
fisherman, said Iowa would already have a mercury advisory if the state had
the money to research the problem. His family eats Iowa fish maybe once a
month.
"I think, without a doubt, it's something to be concerned about," he said.
Julie Sparks of Runnells, editor of Iowa Conservationist magazine, also eats
fish she catches. She said she's never worried about the mercury issue. A
biologist by training, she knew she was not eating an unsafe amount.
Fisherman Tony Bibbs of West Des Moines, who runs a fishing-related Web site
with 3,500 members, said his online bulletin board has never had much
chatter about the mercury issue. He said many people release the fish they
catch rather than eat them.
A lot of the silence comes from not knowing enough about mercury, Bibbs
added. "If people knew more about the health risks, they might be more
concerned about it," he said.
Coal-burning plants, which provide the bulk of Iowa's electricity, are the
largest source of mercury pollution. Those emissions haven't been regulated
in the past.
Iowa ranks sixth nationally in mercury emissions from coal. However, the
mercury that most affects Iowans comes in from other states or countries
because the pollution tends to travel long distances before settling on
lakes and streams, said Brian Button of the state's air-quality bureau.
The mercury issue was in the news in the past week. On Monday, the Sierra
Club, a nonprofit environmental group that ranks President Bush's
environmental record as among the worst ever, repeated its criticism of the
EPA's proposed mercury limits.
The Sierra Club contends that the Bush administration will allow three times
as much mercury from coal plants as the federal Clean Air Act allows.
The EPA's Leavitt said the Bush administration is trying to find a way to
limit the emissions in ways that won't make Americans' power bills rise too
much, or be too much of a burden to businesses.
He said the rule would allow the coal-burning plants and utilities to either
put in the latest pollution-control technology, or opt to buy pollution
credits that would allow them to emit more mercury than they otherwise could
have. The pollution credits would be traded on the market, much as stocks
are, a technique used for other types of pollution.
In addition, new "scrubbers" and other pollution-removing equipment, and a
new carbon-injection technique, may cut emissions even more in the near
future, he said.
The Sierra Club is not impressed.
"If the Bush administration was really serious about limiting our children's
exposure to this poison, they would start enforcing the laws on the books
that will reduce mercury pollution instead of letting polluters off the
hook," said Ed Hopkins, the club's director of environmental quality.
The Sierra Club also called on Iowa to issue warnings on eating fish from
Iowa lakes.
Tarah Heinzen
Sierra Club Conservation Organizer
3839 Merle Hay Road, Suite 280
Des Moines, IA 50310
(515) 251-3995
[log in to unmask]
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Make your voice heard! Find out how to get Take Action Alerts
and other important Sierra Club messages by email at:
http://www.sierraclub.org/email
|
