EPA's proposed mercury rule puts people, wildlife of South at risk

Chapel Hill - A combination of environmental conditions, socioeconomic conditions and a high number of coal-fired power plants put the South at a disproportionate risk from mercury pollution compared to other regions, hence the South needs much stronger pollution controls than what the Bush Administration is currently proposing, the Southern Environmental Law Center said in a letter today to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Today is the deadline for public comments on EPA's controversial proposed "Utility Mercury Reductions Rule." Environmental and public health groups and other critics say the rule would allow mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants - the single largest source of mercury in the U.S. - and the devastating impacts from this pollution to continue at unacceptably high levels for years to come.

The problem is particularly serious in the South, according to SELC. Coal-fired power plants located in SELC's six-state region (AL, GA, NC, SC, TN and VA) and Florida accounted for 20% of all power-plant mercury emissions in the U.S. in 2001. EPA's own data show that power-plant mercury emissions increased from 2001 to 2002 in Georgia, Alabama and North Carolina, with an alarming 16% increase in North Carolina. Also, coal-fired power plants in the South contribute a higher portion of each state's overall mercury emissions. Plants in Alabama, Tennessee and Virginia account for more than 60% of those states' emissions, and plants in North Carolina and Georgia contribute more than 70% of statewide emissions.

Combined with the high mercury emissions, the South's ecology is uniquely suited to converting this pollutant into its more toxic form, methylmercury, which affects the central nervous system. The region's plentiful rainfall leads to a high rate of mercury deposition into surface waters. The South's coastal wetlands and "blackwater" rivers in particular are prime habitat for the specialized bacteria that converts mercury to methylmercury. This form of mercury is readily taken up by fish and shellfish, and persists in the food chain to wildlife and humans.

SELC described EPA's proposed mercury rule - which includes a weak "maximum achievable control technology" (MACT) requirement for smokestack control, a market-based cap-and-trade program, and a lengthy deadline for compliance - "grossly deficient" and "flatly inconsistent with the requirements of the Clean Air Act." In addition to filing its comments with the EPA about the specific impact on the South from the proposed rule, SELC also joined numerous other groups in signing onto a set of "Joint Comments" coordinated by the Clean Air Task Force regarding the rule in general.