THE FACTS

Mercury is a toxic pollutant that causes permanent damage to the central nervous system. Adults exposed to even low amounts of mercury are at higher risk for cardiovascular disease and heart attacks. Breast-fed infants, and children exposed to mercury are at risk for mental retardation, cerebral palsy, and learning disabilities.

Coal burning power plants are the biggest source of mercury, releasing 42 percent of the country’s mercury pollution. Elemental mercury is emitted into the air and, through rain, falls into oceans, rivers, and lakes. It is then converted into the human toxic methylmercury and accumulates-especially in fish and shellfish-which are then consumed by people.

North Carolina has the ninth highest amount of power plant emissions of mercury in the country. According to the EPA, North Carolina power plants are responsible for 70 percent of in-state mercury emissions, far above the national average. The 2002 Clean Smokestacks Act addressed sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide, but left mercury control open to more study. sories. In Virginia 19 coal burning plants are responsible for 69 percent of mercury emissions.

Results of the nation’s largest mercury hair sampling project showed that one in five women have mercury levels higher than the EPA deems safe.

ACTION

Lawsuits have been filed against the EPA by attorney generals in 14 states, Indian tribes, and four prominent national medical groups, including Physicians for Social Responsibility, American Nurses Association, American Public Health Association, and the even the conservative American Academy of Pediatrics.

GET INVOLVED

The North Carolina Environmental Management Commission is accepting public comment on three proposed plans for mercury management. Visit h2o.enr.state.nc.us/admin/emc/.

Voice general concerns about this national epidemic to your Governor’s office and state legislators.

THE LOOPHOLE

In 2000 the EPA determined mercury from power plants was a “hazardous pollutant” that needed to be controlled. With the changeover to the Bush Administration, the federal government introduced the Clean Air Mercury Rule in March 2005, which gives every state a maximum amount of mercury their sources can emit, but the states can bank and then trade or purchase credits from other states to gain more mercury allowances. So while the nationwide average might decrease, any one state can be subjected to a drastic increase, as dirty power plants are able to buy the ability to release even more mercury into the air. States have until November 17, 2006, to enact their own mercury restrictions that are stronger than the federal limits.

PERSPECTIVES

“My doctor told me not to eat certain kinds of tuna when I was pregnant. It’s ludicrous to have to control what you put on your plate, and not just control the source of the pollution.”

Melinda Pierson, Raleigh, N.C.

“Every year we have all these kids that are being exposed to unsafe levels of mercury. If the environmental management commission doesn’t require every unit to reduce emissions, it should at least require the biggest emitters to get the best reduction possible to protect public health. We’re using successive generations of children as guinea pigs. Controls are available, effective, and cheap.”

John Suttles, Attorney, Southern Environmental Law Center

"The American Academy of Pediatrics is extremely conservative, so they have to feel strongly about this being harmful to children to take this extraordinary measure to sue the government. The science is now irrefutable that methylmercury is damaging children’s brains in the United States, and it’s unacceptable for us as a nation not to do the maximum possible to change this situation. The longer we wait, the more children are damaged."

Dr. Katherine Shea, pediatrician and member of American Academy of Pediatrics