This Community at Risk report is part of an exciting new Sierra Club campaign in Minnesota. Learn more and sign up to help in Minneapolis! |
Mercury: Bush Administration Makes Fish Harder to Swallow Policies Put Minnesota Communities More at Risk of Mercury Poisoning
We Minnesotans pride ourselves on living in the "Land of 10,000 Lakes." Our vision is of a watery paradise, where nature thrives and people can enjoy recreational activities such as swimming and fishing. Reality belies this vision, however. While Minnesota lakes and rivers are cleaner than those in many other states, the Minnesota Department of Health’s strict guidelines on consumption of fish caught in local waters offer a sobering reflection on the extent of water pollution in the state. Still the Bush administration has proposed a plan which will ultimately slowdown the reduction of toxic mercury in our waters when compared to strongly enforcing our current laws. Laurel Crewe Cibik of Bloomington has been interested in clean air and water issues for some time, but only became aware of the dangers of eating Minnesota-caught fish when she was pregnant with her daughter a year-and-a-half ago. It was then that her doctor cautioned her to limit her intake of fish due to mercury contamination. "It was at that point that I learned how strict the guidelines are for eating fish from Minnesota lakes," she says. "I was shocked that to be truly safe I could only eat one serving of fish per month." In fact, more than three million acres of lakes and more than four thousand miles of rivers in Minnesota are contaminated with mercury. 1 Mercury reaches our lakes via precipitation after it is spewed into the air by coal-fired power plants. It is a poison that causes birth defects, learning disabilities in children, and central nervous system damage in adults. Young babies, children, pregnant women, women of child-bearing age like Laurel, and populations that consume large quantities of fish are at the greatest risk from mercury. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently estimated that as many as one in six women already have unsafe levels of mercury in their bodies, leaving approximately 630,000 newborns at risk each year. So it made sense that in March 2004, the Bush administration warned Americans to limit the amount of fish we eat and feed our kids. What doesn’t make sense is that the administration’s mercury proposal gives power plants permission to spew even more mercury into our air-mercury that will eventually end up in our lakes and streams and in the bodies of fish. Currently, power plants are the greatest releasers of mercury in the United States, emitting 96,000 pounds of mercury each year. The Bush administration’s plan would allow three times more poisonous mercury pollution than strong enforcement of the current clean air laws allows, and for decades longer-a delay that will leave Minnesota’s communities at risk from mercury pollution for years to come. We can do better. Strong enforcement of the Clean Air Act could reduce mercury emissions by 90 percent of current levels by 2008.2 The good news is that in Minnesota, Xcel Energy has taken positive steps to begin voluntarily reducing mercury emissions at its two Twin Cities power plants, the Highbridge plant in St. Paul and the Riverside plant in Minneapolis. We can do even better, though. Changes are needed at the federal level that would reduce airborne mercury from all the other power plants in Minnesota and around the region. Laurel notes that while she is able to choose foods other than locally-caught fish for her own family’s diet, she is concerned about the health risks to Minnesota’s Southeast Asians, Indigenous Peoples, and the many others she sees fishing in Minnesota lakes and rivers who rely on fish for cultural or economic reasons. In addition to harming our health and environment, mercury also has a detrimental economic effect because it places the Great Lakes’ fisheries at risk. According to the U.S. Congress, the Great Lakes support recreational fisheries enjoyed by more than 5 million people annually, and commercial fisheries operating out of the Great Lakes provide approximately nine thousand jobs. Together, these fisheries generate economic activity worth more than $4.4 billion annually to the United States.3 Like so many Minnesotans, Laurel finds mercury pollution personally relevant for herself and her family. "I live within blocks of the Bass Ponds area of the Minnesota River," she explains, "but due to mercury and other contamination it’s unsafe to eat any fish from those waters." Laurel knows the potential for protecting Minnesota’s much-loved lakes and streams is there. But the Bush administration needs to make the health of Minnesota’s residents the priority, not increased corporate profits. Caption: Laurel Crewe Cibik won't risk feeding locally caught fish to her daughter. Laurel lives next to Bass Ponds area of the Minnesota River, but cannot eat locally caught fish because of pollutants. For more information contact: Minnesotans for an Energy Efficient Economy Minnesota Department of Health
Photo courtesy Michael Shoop Up to Top |
||||||||||||
