EPA mercury rule won't protect Virginia children or environment

Richmond - With hundreds of river miles and more than a dozen fish species on health advisory lists for mercury pollution, Virginia should take quick and strong action to cut mercury emissions from the largest source in the state - power plants, Virginia environmental groups said today. In a comment letter filed with the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) and at a public hearing, the groups urged the state to establish strong pollution controls for power plants to dramatically reduce mercury emissions.

"The answer is not to keep adding rivers we can't fish, and fish we can't eat to the list, but to cut mercury pollution so fish have a chance to recover," said Cale Jaffe, an air-quality attorney with SELC, which submitted the comments on behalf of the League of Conservation Voters, Piedmont Environmental Council, Sierra Club and the National Parks Conservation Association.

Just last month, the Virginia Department of Health expanded its mercury-related advisories to include Blackwater River, Dragon Run, Piankatank River, the Great Dismal Swamp Canal, and Lake Drummond - all waters that, until recently, had been regarded as remote and among the state's most pristine waterways. Airborne mercury is the primary source of this pollution.

Mercury contamination in unborn children, infants and children can lead to developmental and learning disabilities, reduced IQ, and impaired motor skills. Adults exposed to even low amounts of mercury may be at higher risk for heart disease, and impaired hearing, vision and motor skills. Airborne mercury falls into rivers, lakes and coastal waters, where bacteria convert it into the toxic form - methylmercury - which is taken up by fish and accumulates through the food chain.

Mercury pollution is largely a localized environmental threat. An analysis of 1999 emissions shows that three power plants near the Chesapeake Bay - Dominion's Possum Point, Yorktown, and Chesterfield facilities - are among the top contributors of mercury pollution to the bay. A Florida study shows a 75 percent reduction in mercury levels of local fish when emissions from nearby pollution sources were cut.

Under the Clean Air Act, states have until November 2006 to either adopt a recent federal mercury rule, or come up with an equal or more stringent rule. In the letter to DEQ, the environmental groups said the federal rule is not only dangerous for Virginians, it's illegal. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency years ago classified mercury as a "hazardous air pollutant" under the Clean Air Act due to the grave public health and environmental threats. This means that certain sources of mercury pollution are subject to the strictest controls (Maximum Achievable Control Technology, or "MACT"). In December 2000, concluding that the largest domestic source of mercury emissions was coal- and oil-fired power plants, EPA added them to the list for MACT controls.

In March, however, EPA abruptly reversed itself and, without scientific evidence to back its decision, declared that mercury would be regulated through a cap-and-trade program. Finalized in May, the federal rule is being challenged by SELC on behalf of four national health organizations, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, as well as by 14 states and several environmental organizations.

"Five years ago, EPA was set on a course to clean up 90 percent of mercury from power plants within three years, with proven, cost-effective technology," Jaffe said. "Under the new federal rule, we face slower clean-up and more mercury 'hot spots.' We can do better for Virginia."

Under the federal rule, system-wide caps for mercury emissions fall short of the MACT requirements and delay clean-up by years, while the trading scheme allows facilities to buy credits instead of cutting emissions, exacerbating the problem of contaminated "hot spots."

In today's comment letter, the groups advocate that DEQ (1) adopt a strict rule to reduce mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants to achieve 90 percent control efficiency at plants across the Commonwealth within three years, (2) prohibit interstate trading of pollution credits which the Clean Air Act does not allow, (3) implement strict standards for non-power plant sources of mercury in order to develop a comprehensive mercury reduction strategy, and (4) collaborate with Southeast and Mid-Atlantic states to lower mercury emissions regionwide.

These groups are also promoting a Clean Smokestacks Initiative in Virginia, which would dramatically cut emissions of other harmful power plant pollutants - nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxides. Del. Jack Reid (R-Henrico) has introduced legislation in the General Assembly in the past, and will likely introduce the bill again in 2006. Under the bill, the same controls that would cut NOx and SO2 would also reduce most of the mercury emissions.