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Photo courtesy John Winters

Thanks to The Boren Foundation,
and Jack and Karen Kay Leonard
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Mercury

April 1, 2010: IDEM Suspends Mercury Monitoring in Indiana; IKE Leads Effort to Question Decision

IDEM has discontinued its partnership with the U.S. Geological Survey for monitoring mercury deposition and mercury levels in Indiana waterways. IKE has learned that five precipitation monitoring stations, which have been measuring deposition since 2000, were shut down in January. We also learned that 25 stream monitoring stations, in operation since 2004, recorded their last samples in December. This mercury monitoring network has provided important information on the amount of mercury in Indiana’s environment and supported a national network of mercury monitoring. Federal funding is available to pay for the costs of this monitoring.

IKE drafted a letter to IDEM Commissioner Thomas Easterly, expressing concern and urging the commissioner to resume mercury monitoring as soon as possible. The letter was co-signed by the Hoosier Environmental Council, Indiana Wildlife Federation, Hoosier Chapter of the Sierra Club, Indiana Public Health Association and Save the Valley.

Background  -  Information on mercury, its health effects and the effects of mercury pollution.

IKE's Current Efforts  - Projects underway to address mercury pollution.

IKE's Past Accomplishments  -  Past projects concerning mercury.

Additional links  -  Links to websites with useful information on mercury.

 

Background

Mercury is a metal that is liquid at room temperature.  It has had a wide variety of uses in industry and household and consumer products.  At room temperature the liquid metal evaporates, creating an odorless vapor that is toxic to the lungs and nervous system.  Items containing mercury should be disposed of at your community's household hazardous waste facility. 

Click here for a list of household items that contain mercury.

Mercury released from a variety of sources can get into the aquatic food chain.  Mercury inappropriately sent to landfills is released as vapor or gets into water that runs through the landfill from precipitation.  Mercury in items sent to incinerators is released to the atmosphere with the incinerators' emissions.  Mercury from dental fillings gets into wastewater when fillings are made or removed if appropriate precautions are not taken at the dental office.  The wastewater treatment plants do not have the means to remove the mercury, so it is released to the environment with the effluent from the plants.  Coal fired power plants are the largest source of mercury emissions to the atmosphere in the United States because there is mercury in the coal before it is burned.  Mercury in the atmosphere from mercury vapor or incineration falls back to Earth or is brought back with precipitation.

Once mercury is in water, microbes convert it to a more toxic form, methylmercury, which then accumulates and concentrates as it is passed up the food chain.  Fish can have concentrations of mercury thousands of times higher than the surrounding water.  Generally, the larger the fish and the higher up the food chain, the higher its mercury levels will be.  People who consume more fish usually have higher mercury levels.  Young children and women who are nursing or pregnant or who might get pregnant should be especially careful about eating fish because infants and young children are the most susceptible to mercury's neurotoxic effects.  Studies have shown that children born with higher blood mercury levels from their mother's fish consumption have poorer scores on tests for language, attention and memory (Grandjean et al. Neurotoxicology & Teratology 19:417-428).

Advice on going fishing in Indiana.

Click here to learn which fish are safer to eat

Click here for USEPA's Fish Kids Website, an interactive website game about healthy fish

Click here for mercury levels in fish tested by the FDA

 

IKE's Current Efforts

Tracking the federal Clean Air Mercury Rule (CAMR)   When the EPA  promulgated CAMR, a rule to control mercury emissions from power plants, a number of national environmental and health groups as well as 14 states sued claiming that CAMR did not meet the requirements of the Clean Air Act.  In February 2008 the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled against the EPA, thus vacating CAMR.  This court decision will mean an eventual rewriting of the EPA's mercury rule.  Indiana's mercury rule will also have to be rewritten since it was based on CAMR.  IKE is planning to follow the progress of the new mercury rules.

Educating the public on the tangible impacts of mercury on health.  IKE visits health fairs and other events where children are present to teach families about mercury and other contaminants in Indiana fish.  Mercury is detected in virtually all Indiana fish that are tested.  The levels are high enough, that the state has issued a Fish Consumption Advisory for mercury as well as PCBs (see the Indiana Fish Consumption Advisory).

IKE's Past Accomplishments

2000 Mercury reduction in health care  IKE worked with Indiana health care facilities to reduce their mercury use.  IKE encouraged them to take the Making Medicine Mercury Free Pledge from an organization called Health Care Without Harm.  More details here.

2001 Indiana's law restricting mercury in consumer products and in schools (HEA 1901) IKE helped write the original bill and worked with interested parties to craft the compromise that was eventually made into law.  See more details on the law here.

2005 Streamlined Mercury Variance.  On January 12, 2005, the Indiana Water Pollution Control Board unanimously adopted 327 IAC 5-3.5 establishing a streamlined mercury variance program. IKE was an active participant in the two years of workgroup meetings that drafted and revised the rule.  This rule simplifies the procedures for wastewater discharge permit holders to apply for a variance from mercury limits in their National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit.  Facilities receiving a variance will be required to develop a plan to identify and eliminate or reduce sources of mercury in the wastewater.  The rule also gives municipalities responsibilities to work with indirect dischargers of mercury to their sewer systems.  IKE believes that the rule gives permit holders the confidence they need before starting aggressive mercury reduction efforts. 

2005-2006 Mercury Hair Testing  IKE collaborated with the Central Indiana chapter of the Sierra Club and the Hoosier Environmental Council to collect hair samples from reproductive age women as part of a nation-wide study.  A total of 75 samples were collected in Central Indiana through this effort.  Click here for the national results.

2005 - 2007 Indiana Clean Air Mercury Rule.  In 2005 the EPA promulgated the federal Clean Air Mercury Rule (CAMR) requiring reductions in mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants.  Improving Kids' Environment served on the Mercury Workgroup convened by the Indiana Department of Environmental Management and joined and helped lead a coalition of Indiana environmental and health groups lobbying IDEM, the governor's office and the Air Board for better control of mercury emissions than the minimum required in CAMR.  CAMR would have delayed reductions until 2018 or later and only required a reduction of 66% when much more was possible.  IKE also served on the Mercury Task Force established by the Indiana Air Pollution Control Board.  To see IKE's fact sheet on CAMR and call for public support, click here. In October of 2007, the Air Pollution Control Board voted to adopt a rule based on the federal minimum (CAMR), though the vote was not unanimous.  Since CAMR was vacated by a court decision in February 2008, the Indiana mercury rule will eventually be rewritten and IKE is following that process.  More on mercury deposition in Indiana.

Additional links.

List of links provided in the text above