Help Fight Toxic Mercury Pollution
To find out which industries in your area are responsible for mercury emissions, go to www.scorecard.org and enter your zip code. You may be shocked at what you find!

Send Flawed Mercury Rules Back
www.environmentaldefense.org

What the Rules Will Do:

Last March, the Bush administration finalized two rules that do too little, too late to reduce mercury pollution from power plants, the largest man-made source of mercury emissions in the U.S.  

The first rule (the "delisting rule") takes power plants off the list for strict controls on their emissions of mercury and other toxic air pollutants. This paves the way for the second rule, an industry-favored "cap-and-trade" plan that lets power plants buy and sell the right to pollute mercury. Such a trading scheme increases the risk of mercury "hot spots" around plants that choose to buy mercury credits rather than reduce their pollution. Environmental Defense along with a number of other leading environmental groups has recently filed lawsuits against both of these rules.  

These new rules will:

- Allow overall mercury pollution levels in the western United States to rise until 2018;

- Permit mercury pollution to increase above current levels between now and 2018 in the following western states: Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, Utah, North Dakota, and South Dakota; and

- Exempt coal-fired power plants from protections under the Clean Air Act that require each plant to lower mercury pollution by the maximum amount achievable.

- Increase the risk of “hot spots” of high mercury pollution in waterways and air near power plants.

Mercury Pollution on Your Dinner Plate:

Coal-fired power plants account for about 41% of mercury pollution in the United States and are the nation’s largest man-made source of mercury. Mercury vented from power plant smokestacks can end up in lakes, rivers and the ocean. Once there, it accumulates in the food chain. Larger predator fish like tuna, sharks and swordfish usually have the highest mercury concentrations. People who eat these fish can be exposed to unhealthy levels of mercury. (See a list of fish known to be high in mercury or other toxins.)

The problem of mercury-contaminated fish is widespread and growing worse. According to the EPA's National Listing of Fish and Wildlife Advisories, mercury advisories increased 163% between 1993 and 2003 (from 899 to 2,362). The number of states that have issued mercury advisories has risen steadily from 27 in 1993 to 45 in 2003. As of 2003, more than 13 million lake acres and almost 800,000 river miles were covered by some type of mercury advisory.

The Dangers of Mercury:

Mercury is a toxic heavy metal that threatens developing fetuses and children and contributes to the risk of heart disease. More than 600,000 newborns are at risk of brain toxicity and learning disabilities every year in the U.S. because their mothers were exposed to mercury pollution.

One study, by the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis, estimated that reducing power plant mercury emissions by about 60% could result in up to $5 billion in annual health benefits from heart attacks prevented. The study assumes that the cardiovascular effects of mercury observed in males who consume non-fatty fish are experienced by the whole U.S. population. A second study, by doctors at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine’s Center for Children’s Health and the Environment, estimated the annual health costs of the neurotoxic effects on children from U.S. power plants to be 1.3 billion dollars.

Take action!

Senators Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Susan Collins (R-ME) have introduced a bipartisan resolution to reject these rules and send the administration back to the drawing board.  Tell your senators to protect the public from toxic mercury pollution.

Click here to email your senators now!