mercury's 3 legged stool

[Guest guest]

The Bush Administration's Clean Air Mercury Rule (CAMR) stands on three legs, all of which have been demolished by the facts. The three legs are: there are no local mercury hotspots; local reductions of mercury emissions from power plants will not reduce mercury levels in fish and mercury pollution controls are unproven and prohibitively expensive. But all three contentions are wrong. Recent studies and advances in mercury pollution control technologies have toppled that three-legged stool and made it clear that Pennsylvania needs to move ahead with its own protective program to safeguard the health of Pennsylvania's babies. Relying on computer modeling and a definition of "hotspot" that ensured none would be found, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued CAMR, which relies on a cap and trade system to achieve reduction of mercury pollution from power plants. A cap and trade system allows

polluters to buy credits from other facilities that reduce pollution below requirements instead of installing pollution controls. Unlike sulfur dioxide pollution, which has been successfully reduced under a cap and trade system, mercury is a potent toxic. Plants that buy credits rather than make actual reductions expose nearby communities and the environment to continued toxic pollution creating local mercury "hotspots". The Clean Air Act recognizes that it is inappropriate to regulate dangerous toxic pollution the same way it regulates non-toxic pollution like sulfur dioxide. But the EPA simply removed power plants from the list of the facilities that must obey the Clean Air Act's requirement to install the most effective pollution controls for toxics. Both PennFuture and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, along with other states and environmental organizations, regard EPA's move as illegal. Now a new EPA study shows that the illegal

CAMR cap and trade system will indeed lead to local mercury hotspots. In a "heads up" briefing for a top EPA official last year, researchers revealed the results of a study of mercury deposition around Steubenville (Ohio) that used better sampling techniques, improved analysis and state-of-the art modeling tools. The study found that 70 percent of the mercury falling on the area came from local and regional power plants and other mercury polluters. The researchers called the findings "scientifically and politically significant" and were asking for guidance on how to review and release the study results. Subsequently, the study has been scientifically peer reviewed and the results were found to be valid. It will soon be published in a scientific journal. So much for one of the three legs.