WASHINGTON, May 29 (UPI) -- A new report released Thursday found mercury levels in the rain in 12 states along the Atlantic and the Gulf coasts are more than is recommended for lakes and streams.
Much of the blame is directed at outdated coal-fired generating plants in those areas, according to the study conducted by the National Wildlife Federation.
Some waste disposal incinerators also are cited in the study, entitled, "Cycle of Harm: Mercury's Pathway from Rain to Fish in the Environment."
"In many cases, the sources (of the mercury) are old outdated coal fired power plants that have been grandfathered in," said Marc Van Putten, president and CEO of the federation.
"We are calling on the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) to reduce the use of those power plants," Van Putten said. "We are also asking for the defeat of the Bush administration's Clear Skies initiative which will result in increasing the amount of mercury in the rain."
The federation and other environmentalists, including former EPA director Carol Browner, believe enforcing current regulations under the Clean Air Act would reduce mercury emissions to a greater extent that Clear Skies would.
Eric Segal, director of the Electric Reliability Coordinating Council, disagreed.
"NWF recommendations to address mercury emissions are simply counterproductive," Segal said. "NWF calls upon policy makers to reject cap-and-trade programs like the Administration's Clear Skies Initiative in favor of old-fashioned litigious regulatory approaches.
"The fact of the matter is that increased Clean Air Act litigation will not result in mercury reductions."
The wildlife federation analyzed mercury rain data in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Texas.
The rain measured at scattered testing sites in those states from 1995 through September 2001 contained as much as 30 times the amount regarded as safe in surface water by the EPA.
"This report illustrates the significance of mercury air pollution sources in contaminating our nation's lakes and streams and fish," said Felice Stadler, one of the authors of the report.
"It makes clear that current efforts to eliminate mercury sources are woefully inadequate," she said. "Much more can, and should be done."
Stadler said the amount of mercury has not been increasing or decreasing in recent years.
Segal again disagreed, contending that air emissions of mercury are actually declining.
The federation also said mercury is a neurotoxin that contaminates fish and poses a risk to people and wildlife that consume fish. Most at risk are children and the unborn.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has found that one in 12 women of childbearing age has blood mercury levels exceeding the EPA safe level for protection of the fetus.
That translates into about 320,000 babies born in the United States every year who are at risk for delays in neurological developmental delays, producing such problems as attention deficiency disorder.
Mercury is also a reproductive hazard for wildlife with harmful effects on species such as rainbow trout, zebra fish, mallard and American black ducks, loons and terns, otters and mink.
As a result, 43 states have issued advisories warning people to limit consumption of fish caught from inland lakes, streams and coastal waters.
But Segal said data collected by a University of Rochester research team shows the impact of mercury on human health is overstated.
