EPA orders industry to cut mercury 70%

Limits in Indiana insufficient, critics say

Indianapolis Star, Tammy Webber
Published March 16, 2005

Indiana's coal-burning power plants for the first time must cut mercury emissions under a federal rule hailed by the industry as a clean-air landmark but derided by environmentalists as too lax to protect Hoosiers. The rule signed Tuesday by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will "dramatically reduce" emissions of the potent toxin 70 percent nationwide over the next 15 years, acting EPA Administrator Steve Johnson said Tuesday. The bulk of the reduction will come as a result of controlling smog- and soot-forming pollutants, ordered by the EPA last week. Reducing those pollutants will cost Indiana utilities billions of dollars for new pollution controls. They will have to spend additional money, but not nearly as much, to reduce mercury to required levels by 2018, officials said. Just as with smog and soot, the EPA's mercury rule sets a nationwide cap on emissions, allowing utilities that reduce mercury to sell pollution "credits" to those that don't, as long as the cap is not exceeded. Johnson and utility executives said the credit-based system is the best way to achieve significant reductions, ensure reliable electricity supplies and protect the nation's coal industry. "(It is) the most cost-effective and environmentally responsible approach," said Dan Weiss, manager of environmental analysis at Cinergy Corp., which has five Indiana coal plants. Cinergy will spend $1.08 billion on smog and soot controls and an extra $120 million for additional mercury reductions, Weiss said. Indiana is one of the most coal-reliant states in the nation, generating about 95 percent of its electricity from the fossil fuel at 21 plants. Nationally, 48 tons of mercury are emitted each year; that figure would be limited to 38 tons in 2010. The limit is 15 tons in 2018, although it could take a few more years to achieve that level because utilities that reduce emissions significantly in the early years will have more time to comply with the rule, Johnson said. Some environmentalists and physicians say the reductions are not deep enough -- or fast enough -- in Indiana, where power plants emit the fourth-greatest volume of mercury in the country. Women and children in the state already are warned to limit the amount of fish they eat from state waterways because of the toxin. Data collected by the U.S. Geological Survey at four Indiana monitoring stations found that the amount of mercury that falls from the sky in Indiana is 25 percent higher than the national average. There is no monitor in southwest Indiana, which has among the greatest concentrations of coal-fired power plants in the nation. "It's putting kids at risk, especially children from low-income and minority families that rely on state-caught fish as a major source of protein," said Brian Wright, coal policy adviser for the Hoosier Environmental Council. Mercury is a naturally occurring metal, but the types emitted by power plants can become toxic after entering soil and water. People are exposed mainly by eating mercury-tainted fish. The toxin can damage the brains of developing fetuses, stunt central nervous system development and damage kidneys. Health officials say it's difficult to track mercury's impact on Hoosiers' health in any specific way because birth defects, for example, can result from any number of causes. Wright's group has asked Indiana's Air Pollution Control Board to require a 90 percent mercury reduction by 2008 -- 20 percentage points more and 10 years sooner than the federal rule. But the fate of that proposal is unclear, especially given strong opposition by utilities and Gov. Mitch Daniels to adopting standards stricter than those issued by the federal government. The Indiana Department of Environmental Management is leading a work group of industry, environmental and regulatory officials that is studying the issue and will report its findings to the Air Pollution Control Board. But industry officials argue that commercially available technology does not exist to reduce mercury emissions by 90 percent. "If we can get a man to the moon, I'm sure we can get 90 percent over time, just not now," said Dwayne Burke, director of environmental affairs for Indianapolis Power & Light Co. "We always support a phased-in approach where we can make reliable and economical environmental considerations over time." National environmental groups already have said they will sue the EPA to block the federal rule. John Blair, president of Evansville-based Valley Watch, said the technology does exist to cut mercury emissions 90 percent, and it would become commercially available if the EPA required reductions that deep. He called the EPA rule "immoral" because officials know the dangers of mercury. "It is so wrong what they did today," he said. "It's horrible to impose another 15 years of this on the people of southwestern Indiana. "Our kids are being dumbed down as a result of mercury pollution, and it's not right." How mercury contamination spreads in the environment Mercury, a harmful pollutant common in the gases vented by coal-burning power plants, falls with precipitation and is washed into waterways, where algae and fish carry it up to humans in the food chain. 1. The most common sources of mercury in air are coal-burning power plants, municipal waste combustors, medical waste incinerators and hazardous waste combustors. Mercury also can directly contaminate water or land through the discharge of industrial waste waters. 2. Tiny particles of mercury vented from smokestacks travel through the air. Precipitation then carries them back to the surface, either onto soil or water. 3. From waterways, mercury can accumulate in fish and wildlife. Contaminated algae are eaten by fish, which can then be eaten by people. Deposits of mercury collect in animal tissue. 4. People who too often eat fish caught in streams containing elevated levels of mercury can suffer a range of ill health effects, described below. Harmful effects Adults: High doses of mercury can cause death, tremors and impaired hearing, vision and balance. Developing fetuses, infants: A fetus faces a high risk of birth deffects if mercury is in the mother's system. Mercury can impair infants' motor and cognitive skills. Wildlife: Mercury impairs animals' reproduction and behavior. Levels of mercury in fish The Food and Drug Administration recommends that pregnant and nursing women avoid eating shark, swordfish, tilefish and king mackerel to limit their exposure to mercury. Two environmental groups say the warning doesn't go far enough and make the following additional recommendations: Fish lowest in mercury: Trout (farmed) Catfish (farmed) Shrimp Fish sticks Flounder (summer) Salmon (wild Pacific) Blue crab (mid-Atlantic) Haddock Eat no more than one serving per month Canned tuna Mahi mahi Blue mussel Eastern oyster Cod Pollock Salmon from the Great Lakes Channel catfish (wild) Lake whitefish Fish to avoid if you are pregnant: Shark Swordfish King mackerel Tilefish Tuna steaks Gulf Coast oysters Marlin Halibut Pike Walleye White croaker Largemouth bass Sources: Environmental Working Group, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Pounds of mercury emitted in 2002, by power plant: (According to data released in 2004 by the Environmental Protection Agency.) Plant: American Electric Power Rockport Plant City: Rockport Pounds emitted in 2002: 800 Plant: PSI Energy Gibson Generating Station City: Princeton Pounds emitted in 2002: 595 Plant: Indianapolis Power & Light/AES Petersburg City: Petersburg Pounds emitted in 2002: 493 Plant: R.M. Schahfer Generating Station City: Wheatfield Pounds emitted in 2002: 470 Plant: American Electric Power Tanners Creek Plant City: Lawrenceburg Pounds emitted in 2002: 320 Plant: Clifty Creek Station City: Madison Pounds emitted in 2002: 300 Plant: Alcoa Power Generating Inc. City: Newburgh Pounds emitted in 2002: 280 Plant: PSI Cayuga Generating Station City: Cayuga Pounds emitted in 2002: 211 Plant: Merom Generating Station City: Sullivan Pounds emitted in 2002: 210 Plant: Wabash River Generating Station City: Terre Haute Pounds emitted in 2002: 169 Plant: Indianapolis Power & Light/AES Harding Street Station City: Indianapolis Pounds emitted in 2002: 163 Plant: Michigan City Generating Station City: Michigan City Pounds emitted in 2002: 143 Plant: State Line Generating L.L.C. City: Hammond Pounds emitted in 2002: 138 Plant: Brown Generating Station City: Mount Vernon Pounds emitted in 2002: 114 Plant: PSI Energy Gallagher Generating Station City: New Albany Pounds emitted in 2002: 109 Plant: Sigeco F.B. Culley Generating Station City: Newburgh Pounds emitted in 2002: 100 Plant: Bailly Generating Station City: Chesterton Pounds emitted in 2002: 90 Plant: Frank E. Ratts Generating Station City: Petersburh Pounds emitted in 2002: 78 Plant: Indianapolis Power & Light/AES Eagle Valley City: Martinsville Pounds emitted in 2002: 77 Plant: Whitewater Valley Generating Station City: Richmond Pounds emitted in 2002: 33 Plant: Edwardsport Generating Station City: Edwardsport Pounds emitted in 2002: 25 Plant: PSI Energy Noblesville Generating Station City: Noblesville Pounds emitted in 2002: 10 Note: The Noblesville facility converted from coal to natural gas after 2002. Source: Environmental Protection Agency