Mercury Pollution

The 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments mandated EPA to control toxic air pollutants more than 20 years ago. Since then, EPA has taken action to reduce mercury emissions from all the highest-emitting sources – except power plants.

Mercury is a potent neurotoxin that passes through the placenta and poisons fetal brain development. It also has been linked to harming children’s developing brains, including effects on memory, attention, language, and fine motor and visual spatial skills.

Coal-fired power plants emit approximately half of atmospheric mercury, with natural sources such as volcanoes responsible for the remainder. An estimated two-thirds of human-generated mercury comes from stationary combustion, mostly of coal.  There are about 1,100 coal-fired units and about 500 power plants in this country. About half of these units are more than 40 years old, and about three-quarters of them are more than 30 years old. Of these 1,100 units, 44% do not use pollution controls such as scrubbers or catalysts to limit emissions, and they pour unlimited amounts of mercury, lead, arsenic and acid gases into our air.

ELPC Report: Reducing Mercury Pollution in Illinois

In June 2011, ELPC released this report about why federal air toxics safeguards are needed to protect public health. Download a free copy today!

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Crain’s Detroit Business Covers Michigan Scientists Letter on Mercury

Jay Greene of Crain’s Detroit Business blogs about the recent letter to Congress from Michigan Scientists.

Some 117 scientists and researchers from 11 universities and colleges in Michigan have penned a letter to the state’s 17-member congressional delegation urging them to prevent proposed legislation that could reverse tough new regulations on mercury emissions and other air toxins adopted last December by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The federal Mercury and Air Toxics Standard will help “protect and clean the air we breathe, assure that local fish are safer to eat, and protect and preserve the wildlife and natural spaces we love from harmful pollution originating in Michigan and elsewhere,” said the April 5 letter signed by the Michigan university professors and researchers. To read, click here.

Read the blog.