Reel Danger. Power Plant Mercury Pollution and the Fish We Eat

The White Paper:

Emily Figdor. U.S. Public Research Group Education Fund; Clear the Air: The National Campaign Against Dirty Power. U.S. PIRG: The National Advocacy Office of the State PIRGs. August 2004.

Review The Executive Summary of this White Paper:
http://cta.policy.net/reports/reel_danger/reel_danger_report.pdf

The Purpose of this White Paper:
To assess just how much U.S. lakes, rivers and streams are contaminated with mercury – plus the impact this mercury contamination has on recreational and subsistence fishing.

Some Background, Methods, Results, Caveats, and Other Select Points:

• This white paper is not a peer-reviewed scientific paper.
• This white paper was first publicly distributed in 2004.
• This white paper does not apply to any seafood / ocean fishes consumed by people in the United States or elsewhere.
• The author examined the first two years of data collected by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) through its National Study of Chemical Residues in Lake Fish Tissue. The study was conducted over four years to analyze 268 chemicals in fish from a representative sample of 500 lakes and reservoirs in the continental United States.
• However, this review focuses on EPA’s data on fish tested for mercury levels in 260 lakes and reservoirs between 1999 and 2001.
• Based on this analysis, 55% of the fish samples contained mercury levels that exceeded the EPA methylmercury reference dose, which is used to gauge the potential effects of mercury exposure over a person’s lifetime. The mercury levels in at least half of the fish sampled exceeded the EPA methylmercury reference dose in 29 states.
• Predator fish had the highest average levels of methylmercury. Smallmouth bass, walleye pike, largemouth bass, lake trout, and Northern pike had the highest average methylmercury concentrations.
• Of the predator fish samples analyzed, 80% contained methylmercury levels exceeding EPA methylmercury reference dose. In 18 states, 100 percent of the predator samples exceeded this level.
• The authors estimate that 20,000 pounds of mercury is emitted into the air annually while cleaning coal prior to burning it at power plants.

Caveats:
The author defines the EPA methylmercury reference dose as the safe methylmercury level but does not explain how the EPA methylmercury reference dose was calculated - or the safeguards built into this EPA methylmercury regulatory standard. According to the EPA, the methylmercury reference dose is an estimate of the highest daily dose of methylmercury that the most sensitive member of a population can be exposed to over a lifetime of exposure without experiencing any bad effect(s).

A Bottom Line:

• All of the fish samples contained methylmercury.
• This white paper is intended for advocacy purposes. It lays out a regulatory and legislative agenda.
• The author advocates new government policies empowering the EPA to require coal-fired power plants to reduce mercury emissions by at least 90 percent by 2008.

Find This White Paper for Your Review:
Reel Danger. Power Plant Mercury Pollution and the Fish We Eat. August 2004.
http://cta.policy.net/reports/reel_danger/reel_danger_report.pdf