For years, the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) has allowed dangerous levels of mercury to pollute the air and watersheds of the Pacific Northwest. Emissions from PGE’s coal-burning power plant in Boardman cause potent neurotoxins to collect in the food chain, contaminating fish and causing significant health risks for pregnant women, subsistence fishers and recreational anglers. Localized deposition of mercury from the plant is responsible for contaminating many of Oregon’s precious rivers and streams. Mercury is a persistent, bio-accumulative toxin that can remain active in the environment for more than 10,000 years, posing an enormous threat to wildlife and citizens in Oregon.
The DEQ just released a new draft mercury rule that settles on compromise rather than strives for a strong, environmentally safe, mercury rule. The DEQ’s latest proposal is flawed because it allows Oregon to join a controversial trading system where one power plant can avoid installing mercury controls by purchasing credits from another plant. In addition, the new rule calls for a relaxed timeframe where four years would pass before any reduction or monitoring would be required.
In an effort to guide DEQ to adopt higher standards, the Oregon Center for Environmental Health has joined forces with several citizen groups to write a mercury rule that better protects the health of the environment and the residents of the Pacific Northwest. Our citizens’ proposal includes the following key provisions:
1) Oregon should reject the Bush Administration’s interstate mercury trading program.
2) The mercury emissions limit for PGE Boardman should be set at 0.2 lbs./trillion BTU (British Thermal Units)
3) DEQ should require a more aggressive timeline that will require mercury monitoring equipment installed by 2007, control technology ordered by 2008, and enforcement of a 0.2 lbs./trillion BTU emission limit by 2009.
4) DEQ must require control technology for all major sources of mercury in Oregon.
The proposal can be read at: http://www.lclark.edu/org/nedc/objects/mercury_proposal_final.pdf
Requiring a stronger, safer mercury rule is well within DEQ’s reach. Mercury emissions monitoring equipment is readily available and in use across the country. Don’t let the DEQ fall short on their responsibility to protect public health and the environment. Write or fax the DEQ today and tell them to adopt the Citizen’s Proposal for the Reduction of Mercury Emissions in Oregon. You can write a letter in your own words using the talking points below, or submit our sample letter.
The deadline for comments is August 25, 2006
You can also show your support by attending a public hearing on Wednesday, August 16th where you can tell the DEQ in person that Oregon deserves a stronger mercury rule. If you are interested in attending the hearing, and would like help preparing comments, please contact: jane@oregon-health.org
ADOPTION OF MERCURY RULE
MEETING DETAILS:
Wednesday, August 16, 2006
DEQ Headquarters Room 3A
811 SW 6th Avenue
Portland, OR
6:00- visitors need to check in on the 7th floor
Why the Current Mercury Proposal Doesn’t Protect Our Families:
• The proposal allows some plants to avoid cutting mercury pollution by purchasing pollution credits from other cleaner plants which increases the chances that toxic “hotspots” could develop.
• The proposal delays affordable reduction in mercury pollution from power plants by four years.
• The proposal would adopt a control rate that is artificially inflated. The proposed reductions are based on emission rates that are grossly exaggerated, giving PGE the room to pollute at their current rate.
• The proposal fails to address the single largest source of mercury in Oregon, the Ash Grove Cement plant in Durkee.
Who is at risk?
• Our families’ health and quality of life are affected by airborne mercury. Pollution rains down on our rivers and lakes where it accumulates in the food chain, especially in fish.
• One in six women of childbearing age have mercury blood levels that are unsafe for a fetus. This means that more than 600,000 children are born each year at risk for developmental problems and learning disabilities.
• When breastfed infants and developing fetuses are exposed, the result can be lowered intelligence, learning problems, and brain damage.
• In adults, mercury exposure can cause irreversible damage to the brain and cardiovascular system and can reduce fertility.
