Ellyn
Joined: 16 Jul 2000
Posts: 4458
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EPA Issues New Rule for Mercury
 Wed Dec 24, 2003 10:17 am
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EPA Issues New Rule for Mercury
Aim Is to Prevent Spills, But Tons of Toxin Are Unaccounted For
By Eric Pianin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, December 20, 2003; Page A07
The Environmental Protection Agency issued a new rule yesterday to regulate the chemical industry's handling of mercury, but conceded that the government and industry cannot account for at least 65 tons of the toxic substance that plants may be releasing into the environment each year.
"The fate of the mercury consumed" by chlorine manufacturing plants across the country "remains somewhat of an enigma," the agency said in the final rule published in the Federal Register. The new rule provides work practice guidelines aimed at preventing spills, leaks and emissions of mercury, but the EPA said it is "not feasible" to take more aggressive steps to pinpoint the "fugitive" mercury or enforce a tougher emissions standard.
Environmentalists say that chemical companies such as Occidental Chemical Corp. and Olin Corp. use 100 tons of mercury annually to replenish the amount lost in the manufacturing process, but they cannot explain what happens to the mercury being replaced. If that mercury is escaping in the form of vapor, it would dwarf the estimated 48 tons of currently unregulated airborne mercury from the nation's coal-fired power plants.
The EPA earlier this week proposed two rules for reducing mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants. Mercury that enters the food chain can cause severe neurological and developmental damage, especially to the fetuses of pregnant women who eat mercury-tainted fish and shellfish.
Nine chemical plants in Alabama, Delaware, Georgia, Louisiana, Ohio, Tennessee, West Virginia and Wisconsin still use the practice, which has gradually been phased out in other places, of producing chlorine by subjecting large cells filled with thousands of pounds of mercury to an electrical charge.
The Natural Resources Defense Council and Earthjustice said the regulation issued yesterday does not address most mercury emissions. They have called on the EPA to require chlorine manufacturers to stop using the mercury cell process. According to the most recent data in the government's 2000 Toxics Release Inventory, 65 tons of mercury consumed by industry that year could not be accounted for.
"There's nothing in this rule that tells us we won't have hundreds of tons of mercury a year from these plants for the foreseeable future," said Jim Pew, a lawyer with Earthjustice. "The EPA says we don't have any data on these fugitive emissions and, therefore, they can't set standards."
Industry officials say mercury that condenses and accumulates in pipes, tanks and other plant equipment accounts for much of the missing mercury, but environmentalists are skeptical.
In 1996, the Chlorine Institute pledged to reduce mercury use by 50 percent by 2005 and to provide the EPA with an annual summary of its efforts to reduce emissions and mercury use. "The reduction in mercury use by the chlor-alkali industry from the base period is 74 percent," said Art Dungan, vice president for safety at the Chlorine Institute. "While the goal has been obtained, the Chlorine Institute and its member . . . producers continue to work to achieve further reductions."
EPA spokeswoman Cynthia Bergman said the new rule will result in a 94 percent reduction of known mercury air emissions from chlor-alkali facilities. The rule also bans the use of mercury cells in new chlor-alkali facilities.
"Although the fugitive emissions are hard to quantify, we know that the totals are nowhere near the emissions of the power plant industry," she said. "Further, it's very unlikely these emissions are being released into the air."
Two other articles worth looking at on this subject:
The Evil Mercury Molecule = Slow Death
Reprinted from Acres USA
November 2003 Vol. 33, No. 11
12-20-3
http://www.rense.com/general46/merc2.htm
AND
The Deadly Dangers Of Mercury Contamination
An Interview with John Moore
November 2003 Vol. 33, No. 11
12-20-3
http://www.rense.com/general46/merc.htm
[Edited 1 times, lastly by Ellyn on 12-24-2003] |
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