Mercury Pollution, the Bush Administration, and the Environment

Mercury pollution from coal-fired power plants is one of the most persistent, toxic, and harmful chemicals. This invisible poison ends up in our waterways and accumulates in the fish we catch and eat, threatening public health and Louisiana outdoor recreation. Despite this threat to our health and way of life, the Bush Administration announced recently that it will push to overturn Clean Air Act protections and allow as much as five to six times the toxic mercury pollution that is allowed under current law. To do this, it is declaring mercury a non-toxic pollutant - when every child knows that mercury is a deadly poison.

This is bad news for Louisiana's $700 million-a-year sport fishing industry, and for those of us who make fishing part of our lifestyle. It is terrible news for anyone who eats fish.

The risk of mercury poisoning takes away much of the simple enjoyment of eating freshly caught fish. Exposure to mercury can damage the brain, kidneys and cardiovascular system. It is especially harmful to children whose brains are still developing, and to children still in the womb who are exposed when their mothers eat contaminated fish. Roughly 300,000 newborns each year are already exposed to dangerous mercury levels, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

To protect against the health risks of mercury, 43 states issued mercury advisories last year warning people to limit consumption of fish from 12 million acres of lakes and 450,000 miles of river. Here in Louisiana, we've got 30 mercury-in-fish advisories stretching from the Gulf of Mexico to the Ouachita River outside of Monroe.

The good news is that we don't have to choose between fish and public health. There is a common sense way to make fish fit to eat--keep toxic mercury out of the environment and out of the food chain by cutting mercury from power plants, the largest unregulated source of mercury emissions in the United States. The bad news is that President Bush and his campaign contributors from polluting industries seem unwilling to take this easy step.

More than 500 coal-burning power plants emit about 100,000 pounds of mercury into the air each year, more than any other industry. Here in Louisiana we've got 4 coal-fired facilities cranking out nearly 1,400 pounds annually. While other sources of mercury, like garbage incinerators, are already subject to stringent emission control requirements, mercury emissions from power plants are completely uncontrolled. If we are to address the problem of mercury contamination in fish, we must close this gap. We know that we can-- the Bush Administration's own scientists have found that by using current technology, we can reduce mercury emissions from power plants by 90 percent over the next five years.

Doing so would result in rapid reduction in the incidence of mercury poisoning. A recent EPA study done in Florida shows that when tough mercury emission standards are enacted, mercury begins to leave the food chain almost immediately.

Louisiana fishermen and anyone who eats fish urgently need real action to protect against the debilitating impact of mercury poisoning. In our "Sportsmen's Paradise," the link between fishing, our culture, and our economy is far too prominent to sit idly by and watch President Bush put the wishes of campaign contributors in the utility industry before the health of Louisianans and the environment.

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