Safe fish, good enough to eat

Hold the mercury, please

By FRITZ MAYER

NEW YORK STATE — Let’s say you go fishing in one of the many lakes in the region, and land a fat, juicy 12-inch yellow perch. Perch make a very tasty meal, but if you happen to be a woman of childbearing age, an infant or child under the age of 15, you should not eat that perch. If you are outside of that group it’s okay to eat the perch, but you shouldn’t eat more than one per month. That’s according to the New York State Department of Health.

The advisory limits on fish consumption have been in place since 2002, with the general advice to consumers not to eat more than a half pound a week of fish taken from any of New York’s fresh waters. There are similar advisories in 42 states.

The biggest threat posed by the consumption of fish is that, along with swallowing the fish, the consumer will inevitably swallow high levels of mercury. The mercury comes mostly from coal power plants in the Northeast and Midwest. The effects of consuming mercury are serious, and the problem is widespread.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 2004 estimated that 16 percent of newborn babies in this country, or about 633,000 babies, have mercury levels in their blood high enough to cause learning disabilities and other neurological problems. Most of the mercury contamination comes because the mother of the infant ate too much fish during pregnancy.

Not surprisingly, Pete Grannis, the new commissioner of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), wants to make fish caught in New York waters once again safe enough to eat, for everyone, at any time.

On April 11, Grannis released a draft plan for reducing mercury in the waters of New York State and New England. Seven states-New York, Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermontūcollaborated to produce the plan, entitled the draft Northeast Regional Mercury Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL).

The plan calls for the states to cut mercury emissions from power plants by 90 percent by the year 2015. At that level, fish advisories would no longer be necessary.

The plan is stricter than the one imposed at the federal level by the EPA, and is intended to spur the federal agency to adopt tougher standards. The states are also suing the agency over the mercury rules in federal courts. The EPA rule would require a reduction of emissions by 86 percent by the year 2026.

“This Northeast regional TMDL highlights the need for implementation of a comprehensive, nationwide mercury reduction strategy that would improve the natural resources not only in New York, but in all states,” Grannis said.

Across the river

Fish in Pennsylvania are as highly dosed with mercury as those in New York. While the state is not a signatory to the Northeast Regional TMDL, Governor Ed Rendell has been separately pursuing the same goal. Under a rule adopted by Pennsylvania in February, the state’s coal-burning plants must reduce emissions by 90 percent by the year 2015.

Pennsylvania has 36 coal-burning plants that emit more than four tons of mercury into the air every year. Pennsylvania is second, behind Texas, in terms of total mercury pollution coming from power plants.

When the rule was finalized on February 19, Rendell said, “We cannot accept that our state is laden with more toxic mercury pollution than nearly anywhere else in the nation and do nothing about it. This plan will change that by keeping our residents safe and the environment clean, and enhancing efforts to attract new investment to our commonwealth with the promise of a higher quality of life.”