Ocean advocates cite Wisconsin plant as part of mercury problem

By David Steinkraus

Friday, January 28, 2005 2:05 AM CST

An environmental group on Wednesday announced a campaign to dry up sources of mercury pollution that contaminate ocean fish - which many people wind up eating.

Oceana, an international advocacy group, targeted industrial plants that use mercury to produce chlorine, and Wisconsin has one of the most conspicuous emitters of mercury used in this way, the group said.

The Vulcan Chemicals plant in Port Edwards - near the Wisconsin River in the central part of the state - is the No. 1 emitter of mercury in the state and No. 18 in the nation, the Oceana report said, citing records kept by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. In 2002, the report said, Vulcan released 1,082 pounds of mercury into the air, and another 2 pounds into the water. The same pattern held in 2001, when the company released 1,111 pounds, according to the state Department of Natural Resources records.

In both cases, Vulcan's mercury emissions exceeded those of coal-fired power plants, records say. We Energies' Pleasant Prairie power plant was the second-largest emitter in the state, with about 800 pounds in 2002, the Oceana report said. The Oak Creek power plant was sixth.

While there's no evidence to suggest how far mercury moves from a local sources, such as Wisconsin, parts of the environment are interconnected, Oceana representatives said.

Nine chlorine plants in the South and East pour at least eight tons of mercury into the environment each year, Oceana activists said in a telephone conference with reporters. Moreover, they said, some of the mercury isn't accounted for. Company reports of the amount of mercury used don't match up with reported emissions, and even the EPA has said this is a mystery, they said.

EPA spokeswoman Cynthia Bergman said the question of where all this mercury went is very important to her agency, but that the EPA's "best information indicates that the mercury is not being emitted into the air."

Industry officials say that mercury purchases do not necessarily equal mercury use, because some of it is simply stored to be used later. The industry acknowledges that tons of the toxic metal are unaccounted for each year, though it does not believe that mercury is dumped into

the environment.

Already, the government advises women of childbearing age to limit their consumption of many ocean fish. The federal government suggests that women limit their consumption of albacore tuna to about 6 ounces a week, said Jacqueline Savitz, one of the authors of the Oceana report. "Well that's about one tuna sandwich a week."

Chlorine at the plants is made by pumping electrically charged salty water through a vat of mercury, a process devised more than 100 years ago. But there is no need to do this, Oceana said. Already more than 90 percent of the chlorine manufactured in the United States is made with newer, mercury-free technology, Oceana representatives said, and the European Union is requiring the phase-out of mercury by 2007.

Arthur Duncan, vice president of safety and health for The Chlorine Institute, a trade group based in Arlington, Va., said emissions have been significantly reduced in the past decade.

"Certainly mercury has been a concern for a long time to people, and it's an environmental issue that we're working to address," he said.

The calculations of how much mercury is dispersed into the environment are in dispute. The industry, in reports to the EPA, says eight tons - about three 50-gallon barrels - were emitted in 2003. Environmentalists say these calculations are suspect because while the companies monitor the amount of mercury that goes out of their smokestacks, they merely estimate the amount that evaporates and leaves the factories through vents.

In addition, industry officials acknowledge that they cannot account for an additional 30 tons a year. They say that it could be stuck in factory pipes, and they are trying to find it.

While total mercury emissions in the United States have fallen substantially since 1990, power plants remain the largest remaining human-caused source. They released 90,370 pounds of mercury into the air in 2002, the most recent year for which EPA data are available.

Federal guidelines place no emissions caps on chlorine plants but do require more frequent emission measurements and equipment inspections, "significantly more stringent requirements" than had been in force before, said Vito Fiore, a vice president of Vulcan Chemicals, which owns the plant in Port Edwards.

The other plants which Oceana cited are in Charleston, Tenn.; New Martinsville, W.Va.; Ashtabula, Ohio; Lake Charles, La.; St. Gabriel, La., and Augusta, Ga.

The mercury issue will shortly become very international. In a press release sent out on Wednesday, the Natural Resources Defense Council noted that the United Nations will hold a meeting in Kenya in February to focus on the use of mercury in

industrial processes.

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