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“Filthy water cannot
be washed” is a West African proverb that is
particularly poignant as we celebrate American
Rivers Month this June. We must remember how
essential the health of our waters is to our own
health and well-being. In Maine, a state renowned
for its many lakes and rivers, we must address one
of the greatest threats to our waterways and the
health of some of Maine’s most vulnerable
populations: mercury.
Mercury is a dangerous
toxin present in coal, which is burned to produce 65
percent of the nation’s electricity, other fossil
fuels, and various household and industrial
products. When mercury is burned, fine particles are
released and carried by precipitation back to earth,
contaminating water bodies, fish, and wildlife, and
ultimately posing a threat to humans. Nationwide, 39
states, including Maine, have issued warnings about
eating certain fish in more than 50,000 bodies of
water, up from 27 states in 1993.
Mercury
is among the least-controlled and most dangerous
toxins threatening pregnant women through the air
and water in America today. One in six
women of child- bearing age in the United States
carries enough accumulated mercury in her body to
pose risks of adverse health effects to her children
should she become pregnant.
It also poses serious
health risks for children. Mercury has been shown to
cause irreversible nerve damage in young children. A
report released recently by the Learning
Disabilities Association of America (LDA), the
National Education Association (NEA), and the Arc of
the United States identifies mercury pollution as
one of the greatest threats facing developing
fetuses, infants and young children.
Even in Maine, where
great efforts have been made to preserve clean air
and water, mercury arrives as an unseen threat,
carried in the air from hundreds of miles away and
deposited in our lakes, rivers and coastal regions
through rain and snowfall. While Maine ranks 49th
among the least-polluting states in terms of mercury
emissions, all of our lakes and many rivers are
under health advisories due to airborne mercury
pollution from other states. Since mercury is an
element and cannot be destroyed, it cycles endlessly
through the environment, necessitating control of
the toxin at the source.
Because mercury
pollution knows no state borders, a national
initiative is necessary to control it and better
understand its health effects. To this end, I have
introduced a comprehensive bill to control mercury
emissions from coal-fired power plants and other
sources.
This bill requires every
coal-fired power plant to reduce its emissions,
which is the only way to reduce dangerously high
concentrations of mercury in Maine and other parts
of the country.
This legislation would
reduce the annual 48 tons of mercury emissions from
coal-fired power plants by 90 percent by 2010,
reduce mercury releases from all sources, including
commercial and industrial boilers, chlor-alkali
plants and cement plants, and require labeling of
mercury-containing products that need to be
separated and removed from the waste streams that
feed solid waste management facilities. The bill
would also expand research on the effects of mercury
on sensitive subpopulations such as pregnant women
and children and it directs the EPA to work with the
states to improve the quality and dissemination of
state fish consumption advisories.
Maine
has led the way in taking steps to reduce mercury
emissions, but it remains necessary to address what
happens outside our borders to ensure that Maine’s
actions will not be in vain. Unless every coal-fired
power plant is required to reduce its emissions,
dangerously high concentrations of mercury in Maine
and other parts of the country will persist. We have
the technology to reduce mercury emissions across
the board, but we continue to put women, children
and our environment at risk by failing to use it.
Mercury pollution has
far-reaching implications, infecting the vast
majority of waters in Maine and across the country,
and adversely affecting the health of those who
consume fish from those waters. We must be diligent
and proactive in reducing domestic mercury pollution
and make a commitment to protect the public and our
environment. I urge everyone to keep in mind how
essential the health of our rivers is to our own
health and I pledge to continue the fight to contain
dangerous mercury emissions.
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