Dirty Energy’s Assault on our Health: Mercury

Environment Ohio Research and Policy Center

Executive Summary

 

This report looks at the health and environmental impacts of mercury pollution from power plants.

In the United States, mercury contamination is widespread.

• According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, mercury impairs 3,781 bodies of water across the country, and 6,363,707 acres of lakes, reservoirs, and ponds in the United States are contaminated by mercury pollution.
• Because mercury is the most common contaminant in fish in the U.S., every state has set some sort of fish advisory due to unsafe levels of the toxic pollutant.
• Overall, more U.S. waters are closed to fishing because of mercury contamination than because of any other toxic contamination problem.

E.S. Figure 1. Areas of National Watersheds Affected by Mercury Pollution

Lakes, Reservoirs, and Ponds

6,363,707 acres

Rivers and Streams

46,922 miles

Bays and Estuaries

2,080 square miles

Oceans and Near Coastal

4,639 square miles

Wetlands

225,786 acres

Great Lakes Open Water

31,961 square miles

 Mercury poses a substantial health threat.

• Studies show that one in six women of childbearing age has enough mercury in her bloodstream to put her child at risk of the health effects of mercury exposure should she become pregnant.  This means that more than 689,000 out of the 4.1 million babies born every year could be exposed to dangerous levels of mercury pollution.
• Children who are exposed to lower levels of mercury in utero can have impaired brain functions, including verbal, attention, motor control, and language deficits, and lower IQs. Additionally, when children exposed to mercury in the womb are monitored at ages 7 and 14, these impairments still exist, which suggests that the effects of even low-level mercury exposure may be irreversible.
• While adults are at lower risk of neurological impairment than children, evidence shows that a low-level dose of mercury from fish consumption in adults can lead to defects similar to those found in children, as well as fertility and cardiovascular problems.
• Adult and in utero exposure to higher levels of mercury has been linked to mental retardation, seizures, blindness, and even death.

Our environment is at risk due to mercury pollution.

• Wildlife that is exposed to mercury may die or, depending upon the level of exposure, have reduced fertility or complete reproductive failure, as well as slower growth and development.
• Common loons in Maine suffer from abnormal behavior and physiology and decreased reproductive success because of mercury pollution.
• The Florida Panther Society found that chronic exposure to mercury may be a significant factor responsible for lower than expected population densities of panthers in large portions of their range, and is likely contributing to the extinction of this endangered animal.

Power plants continue to spew mercury into our air, waterways, wildlife, and bodies.

• The amount of mercury emitted from coal-fired power plants far exceeds the total mercury pollution from the 10 next biggest sources of the pollutant.  In total, coal-fired power plants emitted over 130,000 pounds of mercury in 2009.
• Four plants in Texas made it in to the top 10 most polluting power plants in the United States in 2009, with the Martin Lake Steam Electric Station & Lignite Mine the worst in the nation, emitting 2,660 pounds of mercury. Power plants in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Georgia, and West Virginia also fell into the top 10 most polluting power plants in the country. See ES Figure 2.

E.S. Figure 2. Top 10 Most Polluting Power Plants in the United States

Rank

Facility

City

State

Zip Code

Total mercury emissions (in lbs.)

1

MARTIN LAKE STEAM ELECTRIC STATION & LIGNITE MINE

Tatum

TX

75691

2,660

2

RRI ENERGY INC KEYSTONE POWER PLANT

Shelocta

PA

15774

2,164

3

AMERICAN ELECTRIC POWER GAVIN PLANT

Cheshire

OH

45620

2,099

4

RRI ENERGY INC CONEMAUGH POWER PLANT

New Florence

PA

15944

2,060

5

MONTICELLO STEAM ELECTRIC STATION & LIGNITE MINE

Mount Pleasant

TX

75455

1,828

6

SCHERER STEAM ELECTRIC GENERATING PLANT

Juliette

GA

31046

1,649

7

LIMESTONE ELECTRIC GENERATING STATION

Jewett

TX

75846

1,647

8

CAMBRIA COGEN CO

Ebensburg

PA

15931

1,644

9

DOMINION MOUNT STORM POWER STATION

Mount Storm

WV

26739

1,571

10

SAN MIGUEL ELECTRIC COOPERATIVE INC

Christine

TX

78012

1,560

 

To protect the public and the environment from mercury pollution, the United States should require power plants meet modern pollution standards that will substantially reduce emissions of the toxic chemical.

• Under the Clean Air Act, the Obama administration’s EPA is legally obligated to propose the “Maximum Achievable Control Technology” standard to reduce mercury and other toxic air pollution from power plants by March 2011.  Using science and the regulatory tools they have at hand, the EPA should implement the strongest standard possible, and specifically cut mercury pollution by more than 90%, to protect our health and our environment. While 19 states have already enacted statewide mercury limits for power plants, the EPA must set a strong federal standard that cuts mercury from power plants by more than 90%, because mercury pollution travels beyond state boundaries and puts all Americans at risk of its harmful effects.
• States should take action to promote the U.S.’s transition away from dangerous power plants, and the life-threatening mercury pollution they emit, to a clean energy economy. Each state can:

o through a renewable energy standard, help ensure that America generates at least 25 percent of its electricity from renewable sources of energy such as wind and solar by 2025;

o strengthen energy efficiency standards and codes for appliances and buildings by 50 percent by 2020 and ensure that all new buildings use zero net energy by 2030;

o ramp up investment in solar power through tax credits, specific targets in state renewable electricity standards, requirements for “solar ready homes,” rebate programs, and other measures; and

o end subsidies to fossil fuel industries.