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Environment/Sustainability Wed Apr 27 2011
Life in Limbo: The Clean Power Ordinance
Although it received a strong showing of support at last week's committee hearing, the Clean Power Ordinance is still stuck in limbo. The Clean Power Coalition noted on its Website this week:
Committee chairs Virginia Rugai (19th) and James Balcer (11th) did not call a vote at today's hearing, saying that the issue requires more scrutiny and investigation, even though the Ordinance was introduced more than a year ago and a majority of City Council members have signed on as cosponsors. It is now likely that Clean Power Ordinance will be decided under Mayor Rahm Emanuel and the next City Council.
Despite the setback, two local environment groups sent out e-mails to supporters this week detailing even more health problems associated with coal-fired power plants like Fisk and Crawford, which emit thousands of pounds of dangerous skin, lung and organ toxins. These toxins can cause severe health problems, especially in residents who live near the plants.
Max Muller, program director for Environment Illinois, warned in an e-mail this week about the threat of mercury spewed from coal-fired power plants. The mercury is particularly harmful to pregnant women and young children.
Muller writes:
One in six American women of childbearing age has enough mercury in her body to put her child at risk of learning disabilities, developmental disorders, and a lower IQ if she becomes pregnant...The culprit? Coal-fired power plants, which spew thousands of pounds of toxic mercury into our air every year. That mercury then falls to the earth in the form of rain, where it contaminates lakes, rivers, streams and the fish that inhabit them. Just a single gram of mercury is enough to contaminate an entire 20-acre lake. As a result, the food we eat and the water we drink may put our health -- and our children's health -- at risk.
He cites a recent Environment America report, "Dirty Energy's Assault on Our Health: Mercury."
Beyond Fisk and Crawford, other Midwest coal power plants with outdated cooling systems are killing millions of Great Lakes fish every year, says Joel Brammeier, president and CEO of the Alliance for the Great Lakes.
Brammeier notes in an e-mail sent to supporters this week that "old 'once-through' cooling systems suck up hundreds of millions of gallons of water and spit it out at high temperatures, chewing up millions of fish in the process."
He specifically mentions the negative environmental impact of the Bay Shore plant in Ohio, the Avon Lake Power Plant near Avon Lake, Ohio, the Monroe Power Plant in Monroe, Mich. and the Oak Creek Power Plant in Oak Creek, Wis. - all of which use outdated cooling technology.
Both organizations are asking supporters to bring their concern to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA has been battling Republicans in the House and Senate over its authority under the Clean Water Act.
Sign Environment Illinois' petition here and Alliance for the Great Lakes' petition here.
WAJ / April 28, 2011 11:17 AM
"In 1995, an estimated 5,500 tons of mercury was emitted globally from both natural and human sources. Coal-fired power plants in the United States contributed less than 1 percent of the total."
"The amount of mercury being deposited today on land and in water is actually much lower than in recent decades. Peat cores from Minnesota, for example, show that mercury deposition was highest in the 1950s, with levels about 10 times greater than those before 1900"
US Department of Energy
http://www.fossil.energy.gov/programs/powersystems/pollutioncontrols/overview_mercurycontrols.html
If there are ways to reduce mercury emissions, and there are, there should be no need to cite ridiculous allegations in order to support their implementation. Why is it necessary to resort to scare tactics?
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One in six women has enough mercury in her body to put her at risk, and the culprit is coal power plants? Do we really need to go very far to call this one BS? Max Muller apparently belives, and would have you believe, that 1 in 6 women obtains this level of mercury because they eat food from rivers, lakes, and streams.
- Does he cite the portion of fish that is caught or farmed in sources other than the ocean (since those are the affected areas he references)? If he wants to blame coal power plants, then he should be able to cite specifics about the food supply and the relative levels of mercury and their significance. If not, he is simply lying.
- If the department of energy states that mercury deposits have been declining, and Muller posits that mercury pollution is a significant health risk to women and children, I'm sure he can support this statement with time series statistics on the per capita populations of children with learning disabilities, developmental disorders, and a lower IQs. If he doesn't, he is again, just lying.
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"The EPA has been battling Republicans in the House and Senate over its authority under the Clean Water Act" Yet in Chicago, the ordinance is not supported legislatively by the democratic party controlled city council.
Hmmmm. So is it those evil republicans who are against mercury pollution? 'fraid not.
"On February 14, 2002, the Bush Administration announced its Clear Skies Initiative for multipollutant controls. The proposal required significant emission reductions of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and mercury through an allowance-based cap-and-trade program. Specifically for mercury, the Clear Skies Initiative calls for a two-phase reduction in emissions below 1999 levels (48 tons) with an approximate 45 percent reduction beginning in 2010 and a 70 percent reduction beginning in 2018.
As part of the implementation of this initiative, on March 15, 2005, EPA issued the first-ever federal rule to permanently cap and reduce mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants. This rule makes the United States the first country in the world to regulate mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants"
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As mentioned in my previous posts about this ordinance, the information that you have cited to support the ordinance is so faulty that it is no surprise that it hasn't gone anywhere.
Garbage in - Garbage out.