In With the New: Why Can't We All Just Get Along?

• Author: G. Tracy Mehan III
• Pages: 76-80

76 Best of the Books: Ref‌lections on Recent Literature

In With the New:

Why Can’t We All

Just Get Along?

By G. Tracy Mehan III

The New Environmental R egulation, by Daniel J. Fiorino. The MIT

Press. 290 pages.

From the September/ October 2008 issue of The Environmental Fo rum.

I

once chaired the Michigan Mercury Pol-

lution Prevention Task Force, to inves-

tigate opportunities for phasing out

mercury from products and processes which

really did not require a neurotoxin as an essen-

tial component.

e Big ree auto companies participated

in the eort, although they felt t hey had

little involvement in the mat ter of mercury

pollution, viewing it primarily caused by air

deposition originating with coal-red power

plants, indisputably a huge source. I suggested

to the auto representatives that they examine

their vehicles, component parts, and indus-

trial processes for any low-hanging fruit. ey

agreed to look into it.

A few weeks later the Big ree reported that domestic automobile

production used 9.8 metric tons of mercury per year in convenience light

switches under the hood and in the trunks of their automobiles and t rucks.

Moreover, they believed they could eliminate that entire amount in relatively

short order, using alternative means of activating the convenience lighting.

ey saw to it that the Society of Automotive Engineers developed a protocol

evaluating the risks, benets, and costs of any proposed uses of mercury in

the future.