Mercury and Coal-Fired Power Plants

WHAT IS MERCURY?

Mercury is a metal that occurs naturally at low levels in rock, soil and water throughout North Carolina. Mercury is released into the air, water and land when fossil fuels (coal, oil and natural gas) are burned, when municipal solid waste or medical waste is incinerated, during forest fires and during some manufacturing processes. Coal‐fired electric power plants are the largest source of human‐caused mercury air emissions in the United States. Waterkeeper Alliance just launched a new campaign exposing the fact that "clean coal" is a dirty lie. Visit that web site at www.thedirtylie.com.

According to the NC DAQ Toxic Air Pollutant Point Source Emission Reports from 2001 to 2005, more than 22,797 lbs of mercury were emitted from known point sources. The major source of such mercury is our own coal‐fired power plants, which in North Carolina accounts for 70% of man‐made airborne emissions of mercury, well above the national average. North Carolina ranks among the top 12 states with the highest mercury emissions from power plants. They have been polluting North Carolina with mercury and other harmful pollutants for decades.

HOW DOES MERCURY GET INTO FISH?

Mercury is deposited onto the ground or directly into waterbodies as fallout from the air emissions of coal‐fired power plants and other sources. It can be washed from the land and carried to rivers, streams, and lakes by stormwater. When elemental mercury lands in water, it is transformed to methylmercury, the most toxic form of mercury, by microorganisms found in water and sediment. Small aquatic organisms consume mercury as they feed, and then they are eaten by larger and larger animals, with the mercury accumulating at each step; this is called bioaccumulation. Fish that are higher in the food chain, such as largemouth bass, sharks, and swordfish have much higher mercury concentrations than fish that are lower on the food chain. Organic mercury concentrations can be more than 1,000 times greater in the fish than in the surrounding water. Humans become exposed when they eat fish that are contaminated with methylmercury.

WHAT ARE THE HEALTH EFFECTS OF MERCURY?

High levels of mercury in developing fetuses and young children can irrevocably effect their neurological development leading to development delays and learning disabilities. Babies are exposed to mercury from their mothers’ blood in the womb, as well as from breast milk. Mercury poisoning can also cause lung, kidney, heart, and immune system damage. An estimated eight percent of women of childbearing age have unsafe levels of mercury and the leading mercury researcher at the United States Environmental Protection Agency estimates that 410,000 babies born each year in the U.S. have unsafe levels of mercury. Based on Centers for Disease Control data, the North Carolina Dept of Health and Human Services recently estimated that “at least 13,677 children per year” are born in NC with blood mercury levels that place them at risk for lifelong learning disabilities, fine motor and attention deficits, and lowered IQ.

In March of 2006, the NC Department of Health and Human Services revised the mercury fish consumption advisory and greatly expanded the number of species that woman of childbearing age and children under 15 should not consume.

Ocean fish:

Albacore** (white) tuna (fresh, frozen or canned)
Almaco jack
Banded rudderfish
Cobia
Crevalle jack
Greater amberjack
South Atlantic grouper (gag, scamp, red and snowy)
King Mackerel
Ladyfish
Little tunny
Marlin
Orange roughy
Shark
Spanish mackerel
Swordfish
Tilefish
Tuna, fresh or frozen**

Freshwater fish:

Blackfish (bowfin)*
Black Crappie***
Catfish (caught wild)*
Jack fish (chain pickerel)*
Largemouth bass (statewide)
Walleye from Lake Fontana and Lake Santeetlah (Graham and Wayne counties)
Warmouth*
Yellow Perch*

*High mercury levels have been found in blackfish (bowfin), catfish, jack fish (chain pickerel), warmouth, and yellow perch caught south and east of Interstate 85.

**Different species from canned light tuna

***High mercury levels have been found in black crappie caught south and east of Interstate 95.

For the most current fish consumption advisories visit: North Carolina Public Health

North Carolina Water Bodies are already overburdened by Mercury:

Just 1/70th of a teaspoon of mercury can contaminate a 25‐acre lake. According to the most recent listing of impaired waters in NC, the following river basins contain fish with mercury levels that exceed safe levels for consumption:

“Basins under the mercury advice are the Cape Fear, Chowan, Lumber, Neuse, Pasquotank, Roanoke, White Oak and Yadkin-Pee Dee. All waters in these basins are Impaired in the fish consumption category, even when there is a site-specific advisory.”

The last basinwide plan for the Tar‐Pamlico River found that 54 % of largemouth bass tested in the basin had greater than 0.4 mg/kg of mercury, the threshold for mercury fish consumption advisories in North Carolina.

Partial testing of less than 60% of North Carolina waters by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources determined that 1000 miles of North Carolina rivers plus an additional 29,522 acres of freshwater lakes, reservoirs and impoundments are impaired for mercury.

NOTICE: The proposed Titan Cement plant will release 263 pounds of toxic mercury into our local environment each year.  Find out more here.

**Adapted from the NC Waterkeepers comments on Duke Energy's proposed Cliffside Plant.