Environmental News Network
 Wisconsin
is moving to remove toxic mercury from its air and water, especially
in populated urban areas such as Milwaukee.
Wisconsin
is moving to remove toxic mercury from its air and water. After
years of research and annual warnings to people to limit the fish
they eat from waters contaminated with mercury, new steps are
being taken at the state and national level to reduce the amount
of mercury entering the state's environment.
A mercury
emissions control rule proposed in Wisconsin would require mercury
reductions over the next 15 years from large Wisconsin utilities
and other major mercury emitters.
The rule would
offer affected facilities flexible alternatives to control mercury
to keep costs down and maintain electricity reliability. This
month, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources will ask
the Natural Resources Board to authorize public hearings on the
rule.
"There's
a lot of momentum pushing mercury reduction policies right now,
both here in Wisconsin and in other parts of the United States,"
says Darrell Bazzell of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.
"There's better information and more consensus now on the
need to get mercury out of our air, our water and the rest of
our environment where it doesn't belong so we can protect human
and wildlife health."
To protect
people from mercury exposure, the DNR and Department of Health
and Family Services issued warnings in February cautioning people
to limit consumption of fish from Wisconsin lakes due to mercury
contamination.
That advice
was based in part on recent National Academy of Science estimates
that 60,000 children are born each year with elevated levels of
mercury. Forty-one states now issue fish consumption advisories
for mercury.
The need to
control mercury was underscored in March when the national Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention published a survey of pollution
in people's bodies. The CDC found that 10 percent of children
and women of child-bearing age who were tested had levels of mercury
that are generally associated with health problems.
The "intelligent
control of mercury" can also help preserve Wisconsin's fishing
industry and tourism, said Bazzell. Such action would allow coal
and petroleum-burning utilities and industries — major emitters
of mercury entering air, lakes and fish — to choose "flexible,
affordable alternatives for controlling mercury."
 New
air sampling technology developed in part by Amy Dindal, pictured
here, detects airborne pollutants such as mercury.
Bazzell has
identified mercury reduction as one of DNR's top issues. Four
of the agency's seven divisions are actively involved in mercury
reduction and community education efforts, he said.
The DNR's
strategy focuses on preventing mercury from two types of sources:
mercury released into the environment as an unintentional byproduct
of fuel combustion, waste incineration and manufacturing, and
the use of mercury in various products.
Metallic mercury
in its liquid form is found in thermometers, pressure gauges,
switches and other products commonly used in schools, homes, farms,
businesses and medical, dental and veterinary facilities.
Even small
amounts of mercury can be toxic to humans who breathe mercury
vapors that may be released when a thermometer breaks.
Eleven Dane
County municipalities have banned the sale of mercury thermometers,
as have some major U.S. retail chains. Similar sales bans are
being considered in other parts of Wisconsin. Cost-effective alternatives
are available for almost all products that contain mercury.
Mercury naturally
present in coal and petroleum enters the air when utilities, industries
and other sources burn these fuels or manufacture chlorine and
caustic soda. These sources account for about 72 percent of the
6,580 pounds of mercury annually emitted in Wisconsin, with energy
production accounting for about half of that.
Airborne mercury
eventually falls to Earth in rain and snow and enters lake sediment,
where bacteria convert the element into a form readily taken in
by organisms in the food chain, including fish.
The primary
source of human exposure to mercury in Wisconsin is consumption
of fish that contain mercury. Mercury affects the central nervous
system and is particularly risky for human fetuses and pregnant
women. The DNR has issued advisories to the public since 1986
warning people to limit fish consumption to avoid mercury contamination.
Wisconsin
is working with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to comply
with the federal Clean Water Act, which requires states to establish
total maximum daily loads of airborne mercury deposition for water
bodies where mercury in fish has been identified as a problem.
The two agencies are measuring mercury deposition at several sites
in the state to determine what the maximum daily levels should
be.
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