Stopping the toxic drift: New England states fight to keep mercury out of our air and water.

• Author: Clompus, Brad

THE NEW ENGLAND STATES are collaborating on what CLF Staff Attorney Brad Kuster describes as "a powerful and comprehensive approach" to combat the menace of airborne mercury pollution. Through use of the federal Clean Water Act, they seek to force large reductions in mercury contamination coming from Midwestern power plants.

A Menacing Neighbor

CONCERNS ABOUT GLOBAL WARMING AND greenhouse gas emissions have mounted in recent months, resulting in a dramatic surge of public awareness and urgent calls for preventive action. Even the U.S. Supreme Court has engaged in the issue; in January, the Court held that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act. Yet, in the face of such heartening change, a massive "coal rush" is being launched. An astounding 150 coal-fired power plants are in various stages of planning--plants that will add to the thousands of dirty facilities already operating around the country.

In addition to spewing more greenhouse gases, the coal rush will export another ominous health hazard into the atmosphere: a heavier burden of airborne mercury.

Coal-fired power plants are responsible for approximately 40 percent of the nation's mercury emissions, representing the single largest source of mercury air pollution. About one-third of the 150 new plants will be located in the Midwest, each adding 80 to 120 pounds of mercury to the atmosphere annually--with the largest facilities churning out nearly 300 pounds.

The new plants are stunning in scale and impact. To power the new $1.1 billion, 790 megawatt MidAmerican facility in Iowa, 400 tons of coal will be pulverized and poured into its boilers hourly, amounting to 3.5 million tons per year. Even more troubling, plant owners are trying to roll back the mercury emissions standards they are required to meet under existing law.

Insidious Consequences

BUT WHAT DOES ALL OF THIS MEAN FOR OUR air and water quality in the Northeast?

Though the New England states have enacted some of the strictest mercury regulations in the country, our air and water are under constant siege from out-of-region polluters. Nearly 60 percent of atmospheric mercury deposited in the Northeast is emitted by upwind sources outside the Northeast region and Midwestern power plants are the prime culprits.

On average, 50 percent of all mercury emitted by coal-fired power plants in the U.S. is in elemental form, with the potential to be...