FEDERATION OF WESTERN OUTDOOR CLUBS

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MERCURY CONTAMINATION

Based on the latest data, advisory notices by EPA to avoid eating fish from America's rivers because of mercury contamination increased by 60 per cent in the number of miles covered over the prior reporting period.  Such advisories now apply to 766,872 miles of America's rivers.  Over 13 million acres of lakes are also contaminated.  Most states issued such fish advisories last year.

Mercury poses particular dangers to fetuses and children.  One sixth of American mothers have levels of mercury in their blood high enough to put babies they might have at risk from mercury pollution.  Over half a million newborns suffer from neurological disorders that may trace their cause to pollutants such as mercury.

Much of this contamination comes from dirty air stemming from some of America's oldest cold-fired power plants.  Much of the coal supply contains traces of mercury, which is released when coal is burned.  Technology now exists to remove 90 per cent of the mercury in these emissions.

But the Bush administration has been dragging its feet in combating this threat. It has not enforced laws on the books to address this problem.  It has even endorsed a plan, involving cap and trade approaches, that would delay cleaning this problem up for a decade, with industry actually being allowed to treble the amount of mercury it emits after 2018.

The Federation of Western Outdoor Clubs deplores the failure to address the problem of mercury in our environment and calls upon the federal government to strictly enforce the laws we already have.  It opposes alternative plans that would be less effective and delay action to sharply reduce the amount of mercury threatening the welfare of the young.

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