The Mercury Controversy

In December of 2003, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency proposed new standards for two gases and the fine particles that contribute to smog and ozone. It also proposed two different methods for reducing emissions of mercury from coal-fired power plants, which has never before been regulated. The mercury proposals have been strongly criticized by environmentalists, scientists, health experts, and politicians. Most charge the government could do more and do it faster than the proposals would accomplish. Bush administration officials say a proven technology to reduce mercury is not currently available. The E.P.A’s public comment period on the new rules was to end April 30, but the agency decided to extend that date by two months. (They must be finalized by December 15, 2004.) The E.P.A. Administrator has also changed the date by which the rules must be finalized. That date was to have been December 15 of this year. It is now March of 2005.

WCPN has been covering the mercury controversy. Below are stories and links you may find interesting.

• Mercury Rising, Part 1
  A promising new control technology for mercury created by a Twinsburg firm faces numerous challenges to commercialization
• Mercury Rising, Part 2
  The rewards of a treatment to remove toxic levels of mercury from the human body could prove risky when used to treat people with moderate levels of heavy metals
• Bill Wehrum Interview
  The council to the assistant director of the U.S. EPA’s Division of Air and Radiation talks candidly about new technologies for mercury control at coal-fired power plants and how the agency is watching developments as it prepares new rules for regulating mercury
• Clear Skies – Cleveland
  Local activists concerned that too much mercury from coal-fired power plants is harming the health of pregnant women and their unborn children are taking action in an era of declining federal regulation