FYI: Detroit Free Press editorial today (9-Jan-06)

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Editorials

Mercury Limits

Illinois sets rules all Lakes states should copy

January 9, 2006

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• Make it easy for public to know the risks

Gov. Rod Blagojevich of Illinois has taken a bold step toward

mercury control that other Great Lakes governors, including

Michigan's Granholm, can emulate -- and use for cover. If

they all take shelter under this unexpectedly strong proposal, the

benefits will be great.

The plan put forward last week by Blagojevich calls for coal-fired

power plants to remove, on average, 90% of their mercury emissions

by June 30, 2009. That's a direct rebuke to the U.S. Environmental

Protection Agency, which has a rule so weak that it cannot even

guarantee its goal of a 70% reduction by 2018.

Blagojevich's plan is even more aggressive than others put forward

to counter the EPA's failings, including one by the environmental

wing of Granholm's mercury study group. A model rule offered by a

group of state and local air pollution control officials has

slightly tighter emissions controls but included a longer timetable.

By following in Illinois' footsteps, Great Lakes governors could

make a huge difference quickly in the amount of mercury -- which

occurs naturally in coal -- that drops out of the smoke from power

plants and ultimately ends up in the water. The other advantage of

working in unison is the common playing field it would create for

the region's utility companies. In an era of deregulation, already

uneven from state to state, competition can get skewed if some

states clamp down on mercury and others don't.

Once deposited in water, mercury works its way up the food chain in

toxic form and makes many fish, including some in the Great Lakes

and virtually all species in inland waters, unsafe for anything but

very occasional eating.

In the body, the toxic form of mercury hampers the brain and nervous

system. The most extreme example accounts for the phrase " mad as a

hatter, " dating back to when a mercury solution was used in hat-

making.

After years of breathing the vapors, hat-makers would show symptoms

from trembling hands and slurred speech to memory loss and

irrationality.

Today, the biggest exposure comes from fish. Most worrisome is

damage done during pregnancy when mercury passes from mother to

offspring, affecting development.

Freshwater fish should be a healthy choice for them, not a threat,

and the states should seize this window of opportunity to make it

happen.