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Mercurial Politics

March 29, 2005

Tuna sandwiches taste good. Not just any tuna, mind you, but tuna packed in oil. It's harder to find tuna in oil these days. Tuna packed in water just doesn't pack the same sensory punch.

Whatever it's packed in these days, tuna is packing another sort of punch -- mercury, the slippery metal that poisons the brain and is suspected of links to a variety of disorders, including autism, heart disease, and auto-immune disease.

Any pollutant that shaves IQ points off children ought to be high on EPA's hit list. Unfortunately for kids, mercury is a scientific and political thicket. Mercury is clearly a toxin, but scientists haven't yet pinned down exactly how much mercury exposure is too much. Some of the mercury entering the environment is emitted by U.S. power plants that burn coal, but mercury blows into the U.S. from Chinese power plants that also burn coal.

Add it up – environmental toxins, children's health, scientific complexities, and the interests of a politically powerful industry, and you end up with a snake pit that can bring out politicians' worst tendencies.

Witness the recent flap over EPA trying to hush up a Harvard University study, which drew a politically inconvenient conclusion that the benefits of mercury emissions reductions would be 100 times higher than EPA says they would be. Acknowledging the study would open EPA to pointed questions on why it refuses to consider tougher reductions.

Understanding the politics of mercury requires some understanding of the underlying science. Mercury is a gregarious chemical that hooks up with other elements. Pick your poison – different mercury compounds find different pathways into your body, but once inside the brain, mercury is a neurological wrecking crew, especially in the brains of developing fetuses.

Evangelicals have taken note of mercury's impacts on babies in the womb. At an anti-abortion march in Washington DC two months ago, two prominent evangelicals carried a banner reading "Stop Mercury Poisoning of the Unborn." One of the banner carriers was the Reverend Jim Ball, who led the brilliant "What Would Jesus Drive" campaign to cut fuel consumption and pollution. The other was Rick Cizik, vice president of the National Association of Evangelicals.

For kids, methylmercury is a particularly dangerous mercury compound. It forms in water when microorganisms change mercury into forms that can build up in tissue. Plankton eat the microorganisms. Little fish eat the plankton. Big fish eat the little fish. The result is a diabolical form of compound interest. Tuna and other predatory fish can have 100 times as much mercury in their flesh than smaller fish. Eat the tuna and mercury makes its way from stomach to bloodstream to brain.

Fish is good food, stocked with nutrients that make for a heart-healthy diet. Thanks to mercury, however, vulnerable populations -- including pregnant women, women who might become pregnant, and their children -- are advised to limit their consumption of tuna and other fish. Most states have published fish advisories warning about the hazards of eating tuna, shark, and other types of fish.

Mercury enters the environment from both natural and artificial sources. Since the advent of the industrial age, human sources, including coal combustion, have tripled the amount of mercury in the environment. In 1997, EPA estimated that coal burning accounts for about one-third of the human-caused mercury emissions in the U.S.

Now for the politics. The Clean Air Act classifies mercury as a "hazardous air pollutant." Under this authority, EPA could command each and every coal-fired power plant to cut back its mercury emissions. But the utility industry doesn't like that and said so to its friends in the White House. EPA obediently came up with a softer alternative that was announced March 15, a "cap-and-trade" policy that limits national mercury emissions, but allows power plants to buy and sell emissions reduction credits. Under this plan, some of the plants could meet their emissions reduction obligations by buying credits from plants that cut their emissions below what is required.

In general, cap-and-trade is an effective emissions reduction strategy, but it is not entirely suited to cutting emissions mercury because of the "hot spots" issue. Mercury deposits tend to be higher close to emission sources and in areas with high precipitation. As a result of the proposed cap-and-trade rule, for example, emissions in the upper Great Lakes states are projected to be higher in 2020 than they are today.

So what's next? Look for litigation challenging the legality of EPA's rule. And keep your ears tuned for tough questions that will put the administration on a well deserved spot -- from researchers concerned about scientific integrity and from evangelicals concerned about the culture of life.

Feedback

Good editorial on mercury. Cement plants also produce mercury, as well as lead, dioxin, benzene and other toxins, but get little notice -- except from those protecting the cement industry. I live in Congressman Joe Barton's district in Midlothian, The Cement Capital of Texas. Too many people are sick here -- something's wrong. And yes, I'm a Republican. But I'm a mother first.

Julie Boyle
Midlothian, Texas