Chicago, U.S.A. – Just ahead of a major U.S. Senate vote on the Environmental Protection Agency’s authority to clean up mercury and other toxic air pollutants, a Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) report shows that the 25 worst coal-fired power plants account for more than half of the dangerous mercury pollution emitted by the total of 144 electricity generation facilities in the Great Lakes region. The report also finds that almost 90 percent of the toxic emissions could be eliminated with off-the-shelf technologies.

According to ”Poisoning the Great Lakes: Mercury Emissions from Coal-Fired Power Plants In the Great Lakes Region,” Ohio emits the largest amount of mercury from coal-fired power plants (21 percent of the total in the Great Lakes region), followed closely by Pennsylvania (20 percent) and Indiana (16 percent). The remaining five states in the region rank as follows: Michigan (14 percent); Illinois (11 percent); Wisconsin (9.5 percent); Minnesota (6.5 percent); and New York (2 percent). Plants from outside the region also contribute to mercury pollution in the Great Lakes.

The Great Lakes region’s five worst coal-fired power plants for mercury pollution are: Shawville (Clearfield County, PA); Monroe (Monroe County, MI); Homer City (Indiana County, PA); Cardinal (Jefferson County, OH); and Sherburne County (Sherburne County, MN). (See the complete list below of the worst 25.) A dozen power plants in Ohio and Indiana – owned in whole or part by American Electric Power — accounted for 19 percent of all mercury emitted in 2010 from the total of 144 coal-fired power plants in the region.

U.S. Senator James Inhofe, R-OK, recently filed a Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution to void health standards reducing mercury and other toxic air pollution from power plants and to permanently block EPA from re-issuing similar safeguards.

Thomas Cmar, attorney, Natural Resources Defense Council office in Chicago, said: ”Mercury is a dangerous brain poison that doesn’t belong in our Great Lakes. It puts the health of kids and pregnant women at risk and adds an unwelcome danger to eating what our fishermen catch. That’s why it is so important that we support the EPA’s standards to reduce mercury pollution by holding polluters accountable. Even more critical is that every single U.S. Senator from the region stand up for the Lakes by rejecting reckless attempts to derail the long overdue Clean Air Act updates that can help tame this problem.”

Cindy Copeland, report author and formerly with the EPA Air Program, said: “Mercury is poisoning the Great Lakes and the three states – Ohio, Indiana and Pennsylvania – that impose no rules are by far the worst offenders. Airborne mercury from coal-fired power plants in the Great Lakes Region harms our health, and the benefits of reducing mercury emissions are well worth the cost. With a reduction of health costs to the economy at up to $90 billion, it is hard to say no to this.”

In the Great Lakes region, there are more than 144 coal-fired power plants which pumped over 13,000 pounds of mercury into the air in 2010. Mercury pollution from these plants’ region accounts for close to 25 percent of the nation’s total. The Great Lakes region is comprised of the five Great Lakes (Erie,Ontario, Huron, Michigan, and Superior) and the eight surrounding states (Illinois, Indiana, Michigan,Minnesota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, and Wisconsin).

Eating poisoned fish is the primary cause of mercury poisoning of humans. Mercury is a neurotoxin that harms the brain, heart, central nervous system, kidneys, lungs, and immune system. Young children and developing fetuses are most at risk, and can suffer developmental problems from mercury poisoning.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently issued nationwide rules to require coal-fired power plants to limit airborne mercury emissions and other toxic air pollutants by 2015. The technologies to meet the EPA’s mercury limits are widely available and effective.

Based on projected reductions in fine particulate emissions due to the combined benefits of various air toxic pollution controls, the EPA has projected that the benefits of its Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS) far outweigh the costs of pollution controls. The health benefits of the MATS are projected to be worth $37 to $90 billion in 2016 alone. The EPA has projected that the majority of the benefits would be reaped in the eastern United States, including the Great Lakes region.

Mercury emitted into the air from coal-fired power plants is by far the leading man-made source of mercury reaching the Great Lakes and the lakes, rivers, and streams of the Great Lakes region. This report lists the top 25 mercury emitting plants in the region. Mercury pollution from plants outside the region also contributes to the overall quantity of mercury found in the Great Lakes. When coal is burned to produce electricity, mercury is emitted into the air. The EPA estimates that coal-fired power plants are the largest man-made source of mercury pollution, accounting for 50 percent of mercury air emissions in the United States.

The article 25 Plants Blamed For Half of Great Lake’s Mercury Poisoning appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

National environmental organizations, including the Natural Resources Defense Council, Sierra Club, Physicians for Social Responsibility, Friends of the Earth, Public Citizen, Clean Water Action, and Greenpeace, along with regional energy advocacy organization Citizen Power, are sending a letter to teacher organizations throughout the United States to alert teachers to be careful when considering using the resources of the National Energy Education Development Project (NEED).

NEED conducts teacher training workshops around the US and gives participants teaching resources, including “Infobooks” that contain information about various energy sources. A review of the NEED Secondary Infobook * reveals that some of the information it contains is incomplete, unbalanced, or simply not accurate.

Despite repeatedly being asked to correct the Infobooks, NEED continues to disseminate this misinformation. Some of the more egregious omissions or errors are listed in the letter to teacher organizations. To see the letter and citations, click here:http://www.citizenpower.com/NEED/NEED_Teacher_Orgs_letter.pdf.

“It is unacceptable that teachers of future decision makers are getting information about energy sources that is misleading at best and, at worst, simply wrong,” said Christopher Paine, Nuclear Program Director at the Natural Resources Defense Council.

“The information being presented to students misleads them on very basic questions of health and safety.  Fossil fuels like coal have very damaging effects on health, and schools should warn students about them, not ignore them,” noted Barbara Gottlieb, Director of Environment and Health at Physicians for Social Responsibility.

In April 2009, NEED asked for and was given more than 100 citations to support the contention that the Infobooks contain misleading or inaccurate information. It was hoped that the 2010 edition of the Infobooks would be revised per this supporting documentation. Regrettably, that was not to be the case. In January 2011 a letter was sent to the 30 member NEED Teacher Advisory Board, along with the supporting citations, requesting that the TAB work to revise the 2011 Infobooks.

Unfortunately, the 2011 Infobooks still contain very misleading or inaccurate information about coal and nuclear energy. In addition, ongoing reviews reveal an additional need for revisions, including in the Petroleum and Biomass sections. Citations for these suggested revisions were also sent to NEED in January 2011.

“It is bad enough that our democracy is under assault by unregulated corporate lobbying – but now energy companies are influencing educational curriculums. Our children deserve fact-based education – not lesson plans approved by energy corporations,” said Tyson Slocum, Director of Public Citizen’s Energy Program.

“Now, more than ever, we need sound science and fact-based analysis to shape the energy education of young Americans.  If the NEED program is determined to dispense coal and oil industry spin in their place, parents, teachers, and administrators must start taking a harder look at whether they want NEED materials in their local schools,” said Dave Hamilton, Director of Global Warming and Energy Programs for the Sierra Club.

“It is obvious that NEED has made a conscious decision to continue disseminating this information despite having evidence that it is inaccurate,” said David Hughes, President of Citizen Power. “We intend to continue to pressure NEED to make its Infobooks accurate and to alert teachers about NEED’s misleading teaching resources.”

*http://www.need.org/needpdf/Secondary%20Energy%20Infobook.pdf

The article Environmental Organizations Alert Teachers to NEED Resources Usage appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.