News Coverage
New Jersey Scientist Says Rewritten Mercury Regulations Downplay Toxicity
Published April 8, 2004
The Bush administration rewrote scientific language in its mercury regulations to downplay the chemical's toxic effects, a New Jersey scientist said Wednesday.
The results "appeared to be edited so as to give less weight to the potential health impacts of mercury," said Alan Stern, a state toxicologist who worked on a federal report measuring mercury's impact.
That report helped form the health basis for the administration's controversial plan to regulate mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants, pollution that contaminates water and fish and can damage the brains of young children and fetuses. Critics say the plan doesn't do enough to reduce emissions.
Stern and other scientists who served on the National Academy of Sciences panel that prepared the report say their work was reworded to minimize the danger.
On Thursday, Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., demanded congressional hearings on whether the science was fudged.
"This undue industry influence and White House manipulation of science is extremely serious and warrants immediate investigation," she said.
The White House's Council on Environmental Quality said the alterations were made by scientists with the federal Office of Management and Budget.
"They are civil servants. They are not political appointees of the Bush administration," said Dana Perino, a spokeswoman for the council. The administration issued health warnings about mercury-tainted fish a few weeks ago, she noted.
"Make no mistake," she said. "Mercury is a toxin that we take very seriously."
In 2000, Stern and the nine other scientists on the Academy panel studied the level at which mercury exposure is dangerous.
But the management and budget office reworded the findings in ways that made mercury's impacts seem less certain, Stern said. The changes were first reported in Wednesday's New York Times, which cited five other panel members who questioned the rewording.
"It was language that changed 'is' to 'could be' or that 'there is an association' to 'there may be an association but it has not been proven'" Stern told The Record.
Stern said none of the new wording was inaccurate. Some changes made by the White House in the health report were fair and clarified what had been imprecise warnings about mercury, Stern and other researchers said.
But where the administration had a chance to interpret uncertain or contradictory research, it came down on the side of minimizing the threat, he said.
"I think EPA knew what it wanted and edited the health reports to fit their proposal," Stern said.
The Bush administration has proposed letting coal-fueled plants trade among themselves the right to emit mercury, while gradually lowering the nationwide limit. Industry and the White House argue it's the most cost-efficient way of cutting emissions and say the plan would reduce mercury pollution by 70 percent over the coming decades.
Last week, New Jersey and nine other states, along with 45 U.S. senators, called on the Environmental Protection Agency to come up with a stronger plan. Environmental groups and several northeastern states, which are downwind from some of the biggest mercury sources, say emissions could be cut by 90 percent almost immediately if EPA simply ordered businesses to install the latest available technology.
Despite Clinton's request, congressional hearings seem unlikely. Sen. Susan Collins, a Maine Republican who heads the Senate Government Affairs Committee, also opposes the mercury trading plan, but said she saw no need for a further investigation.
While New Jersey also questioned the White House's use of science Thursday, Governor McGreevey trumpeted the state's plan to study local waters to find out just how badly the fish are contaminated.
"The data the state will gather from the fish will be critical to public safety," McGreevey said.
In a statement, McGreevey announced a $500,000 study to test the levels of mercury, dioxin, and PCBs in fish in the state's coastal waters and back bays, as well as the Passaic and lower Hackensack rivers.
New Jersey advises people to limit their consumption of fish caught throughout the state because of such toxic substances. But the advisories are based on old or inadequate data, said Bradley Campbell, New Jersey's commissioner of environmental protection.
Fish haven't been tested for mercury in five years; PCB tests haven't been done since 1992, he said.
Campbell wouldn't guess how the advisories may change. PCB levels in New Jersey water have probably fallen in recent years but mercury pollution may have increased, he said.
Fish will be sampled starting this summer or fall, with a final report due in October 2005.