Coal-fired Power Plants

Under the Clean Air Act, there are no requirements to monitor or control mercury emissions at coal-fired power plants. Power plants are the largest source of mercury emissions that are not regulated. Because Indiana ranks fourth in the nation for mercury emission from power plants, the state needs to play a larger role in eliminating mercury emissions.

According to U.S. EPA, coal-fired power plants, as a whole, emit more than 250 times as much mercury nationwide as same capacity oil-fired plants, and an even higher ratio compared to natural gas-fired plants¹¹. Traditional stack controls are not the best answer for reducing mercury pollution, because even when captured by pollution controls, mercury will often re-volatilize and re-enter the environment. Pollution prevention strategies that eliminate mercury at its source (the fuels) are the best long-term options¹. For instance, investments in renewable energy or natural gas boilers that have negligible mercury emissions are recommended. Energy efficiency should also be promoted more strongly.

"Cleaning up emissions from power plants is one of the most cost-effective strategies to clean our air."
(Clean Air Network)

Figure 6:
The map above demonstrates the presence of mercury in Indiana. As Indiana considers restructuring and deregulating the electrical utility industry, the advantages and loopholes that currently exist allowing more pollution from power plants must be addressed. Stronger regulations are needed to provide more information and controls on mercury emissions to protect public health.

Fish Consumption Advisory and Outreach

The Indiana Department of Health has made a good first step in educating Hoosiers by issuing the statewide fish consumption advisories. The booklet they produce, however, is complicated and appears difficult to understand and intimidating to follow. The health department distributes the booklets widely: to anyone who requests them, to all county health departments, Women, Infant & Children (pre- and post-natal nutrition) offices, state parks, state recreation areas, and water management districts in most counties. Anglers, however, only get the booklet if they request it. Anglers are supposed to receive a 33 page copy of Indiana fishing regulations when they purchase a fishing license. The regulation booklet mentions the fish consumption advisory and how to obtain a copy of it.

Table 8:
Fish Consumption Realities (preliminary results)

Table 8 provides the results of a study done by the Purdue research team to gauge the effectiveness of the fish consumption advisory. The study showed that there are a large number of people fishing who do not have fishing licenses and are less likely to know about the advisories. It points out that non-licensed anglers are typically fishing to supplement their diet and they typically come from lower income situations, and tend to be minority populations. The study also finds people are eating larger portions at a more frequent rate than previously thought.

The Purdue study raises a serious question: if the fish consumption advisory is so widely distributed, why are there people who still don’t know about them? We recommend that the Indiana Department of Health make the advisory easier to understand. We also recommend that either the Indiana Department of Health or the Indiana Department of Natural Resources provide better information, at the waterfront, to anglers. Signs should be posted explaining the potential risks of fish consumption. When a lake contains fish that have a level 3 consumption advisory or higher the special population (including nursing mothers, pregnant women, and children) should be warned more effectively not to eat the fish in that lake.

The Department of Natural Resources

Anglers and Hoosiers that depend on freshwater fish to supplement their diet should be better informed about mercury contamination. The Indiana Department of Natural Resources (DNR) can play a significant role in educating the public about the dangers of mercury fish contamination.

We recommend that the DNR do a better job of educating and promoting the fish consumption advisories. We recommend the fishing license contain information on the fish consumption advisory and how to obtain a copy of the advisory. The DNR could be distributing brochures targeting pregnant women, children, and nursing mothers. The DNR should also post signs at public fishing locations that warn people of particular fish covered by the advisories. This sort of notification will increase awareness of the problem and encourage actions that will minimize mercury releases.

An example for Indiana: the Wisconsin DNR has played a role in undertaking solutions to the mercury problems in their state. The agency was involved when proposing state legislation for mercury reductions. Wisconsin officials have realized the importance of lakes and rivers in their state and are playing a larger role in establishing better methods to protect those resources. This should be an example to Indiana DNR to take similar positions to protect wildlife and human health.

IDEM and Mercury Testing

The Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) does the testing for mercury content in fish. IDEM has tested fish from every county in Indiana but most of the lakes tested have only been tested twice in the past 2 decades. Tests are only done on certain species and they do not always follow up on the specific species tested to see if there have been any changes. This produces incomprehensive results. IDEM should conduct testing more frequently. To do this, IDEM could use new testing methods to analyze waterbodies for mercury in combination with fish tissue analysis. This new water sampling test, which can detect mercury levels in the parts per trillion range, has just been approved by the EPA. This would allow more frequent tests on all water sources. Fish tissue testing could continue on a bi- or tri-annual basis. IDEM should follow up on specific species of fish in which they regularly find mercury. This would determine if mercury levels in fish are rising or falling and would establish the level of the contamination more specifically.

IDEM also is the agency that regulates power plants. In the 1999 State of the Environment Report, IDEM lists mercury as a persistent chemical in the environment. Although the report acknowledges that mercury comes from burning coal, household, municipal, and medical waste, it is not mentioned as an air quality or a water quality issue. The agency does not recommend any solutions to this problem. We recommend that IDEM address this problem from both sides, dealing with the sources of mercury and dealing more effectively with air deposition of mercury. IDEM has the authority and the ability to fix this problem--they should do it. IDEM should also ban mercury thermometers in medical and municipal waste.

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