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Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Environment - "Mercury plagues Indiana"

From a report by Joseph Picard in the Nov. 17th International Business Times:

Indiana has over 30 coal-burning power plants. The smoke rises and disperses in the air, but its chemical contents do not vanish. They linger in the atmosphere and they return to the earth, and to the waterways of Indiana, with the rain.

And that poses a danger to Indianans, and Indiana wildlife, and other Americans, too.

The U.S. Geological Survey, in partnership with the Indiana Department of Environmental Management, recently published the results of a decade-long study of Indiana waterways. The title says a lot: Mercury in Indiana Watersheds.

"Mercury contamination in water and fish throughout Indiana has routinely exceeded levels recommended to protect people and wildlife," said the USGS release accompanying the report. "About 1 in 8 fish samples tested statewide had mercury that exceeded the recommended safety limit for human consumption. The causes include mercury in the rain and mercury going down the drain." * * *

The USGS scientists found that "mercury concentrations in Indiana watersheds routinely exceeded criteria protective of humans and commonly exceeded criteria protective of wildlife," said Martin R. Risch, who led the study. * * *

According to the USGS, the most significant source of mercury to Indiana watersheds is fallout from the air. In Indiana, coal-burning power plants emit more mercury to the air each year than any other human activity, the report said.

The Indiana Department of Environmental Management says it has been dealing with its mercury problem for years and, based on the report, does not think it needs to radically change its approach. * * *

But Bowden Quinn, conservation program coordinator for the Hoosier Chapter of the Sierra Club, said IDEM is painting too rosy a picture.

"That's ridiculous to say that most of the pollution originates outside Indiana," Quinn said. "Indiana is the coal-burningest state in the nation. We're causing the mercury pollution right here."

Quinn pointed out that last year neighboring Illinois took a pledge to slash mercury emissions from power plants by 90 percent, becoming the seventh state to commit to lowering airborne mercury to levels below federal standards.

"Indiana would not take the pledge," Quinn said.

Here is the news release issued Nov. 10th by the USGS. And here is the report itself.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on November 23, 2010 12:49 PM
Posted to Environment