Clean Water, Safe Fish, Healthy Kids:
Enact Comprehensive Mercury Reduction Legislation for Minnesota
Download the mercury agenda (pdf, 30k)
Summary
Mercury is a potent neurotoxin that causes learning and developmental disabilities in children. Minnesota's lakes, rivers, and fish are contaminated with mercury. To protect our water, our fish, and our children, we must work for a virtual phase-out of all man-made sources of mercury emitted in Minnesota. Minnesota can be a national leader by making our state mercury-free.
Concern
Exposure to mercury can interfere with fetal and infant development, preventing the brain and nervous system from developing normally. In January 2004, the U.S. EPA reported that 1 in 6 U.S. women of childbearing age have mercury in their bodies at levels that may adversely affect their unborn child. The EPA has also found that nearly 600,000 babies born each year in the U.S. are at risk of developing learning and behavioral disorders due to mercury exposure.
The primary sources of mercury emissions in Minnesota — accounting for nearly two-thirds of the total — are coal-burning power plants and taconite processing. There are many mercury-containing products, including vaccines and dental amalgams, which also pose serious risks. Currently, neither state nor federal law sets limits on the amount of mercury that existing coal-burning power plants can emit.
Mercury released into the environment ends up in Minnesota's lakes and rivers. Bacteria in the water convert the mercury to a highly toxic form called methylmercury. This neurotoxin concentrates in fish tissue as it moves up the food chain, resulting in the contamination of fish that humans and wildlife consume.
Minnesotans are exposed to mercury primarily through fish consumption. Minnesota has issued a statewide advisory limiting the number of walleye and other game fish that people should eat from our 12,000 lakes. Mercury also threatens birds and other animals that eat fish, such as loons, bald eagles, and otters. Since mercury is unquestionably bad for our health and the technology exists to create clean energy and mercury-free products, we should put safety first and choose safer alternatives.
Solution
- Increase Public Education Efforts on Fish Consumption Advice. Responsible agencies, such as the Department of Health, Department of Natural Resources, Pollution Control Agency and Office of Environmental Assistance, should be given adequate funding to develop and implement a plan that would provide notice to and educate the public about the sources and health effects of mercury.
- Make Vaccines in Minnesota Mercury-Free. All vaccines given in Minnesota should be mercury-free. Until then, all persons receiving vaccinations should be informed if their vaccines contain mercury and of the hazards posed by mercury, especially the hazards posed to fetuses and children.
- Reduce Emissions from Power Plants. The Emissions Reduction Rider should be extended. All existing and new coal-fired power plants should reduce mercury emissions using the best available technology as required by the Clean Air Act. Electricity system reliability should be improved or maintained.
- Research & Develop Control Technology for the Taconite Industry. Establish a research and development program to develop mercury control technology for taconite furnaces.
Coalition Partners
Over 30 environmental, health, and community organizations comprising the Mercury Free Minnesota Coalition. For more information, visit www.mercuryfreeminnesota.org.
For more information, contact
Cesia Kearns
(612) 659-9124
Brian Pasko
(612) 722-2757