It has been long known that mercury is
harmful to birds that eat fish (like Minnesota's beloved loon),
but new research shows that songbirds and other species are also
affected. Read "Mercury
Rising" in National Wildlife Magazine.
Mercury-Free Minnesota
Mercury-Free Minnesota Home Page
EPA Mercury Pollution Proposal Threatens Minnesota Public Health,
Fish, and Wildlife - Mercury Free MN, February 3, 2004
MN Pollution Control Agency Materials
2005 Mercury Reduction Progress Report to the Minnesota Legislature
Mercury in
MN - Research and Reduction Initiative
Statewide Mercury Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) Pollutant
Reduction Plan (DRAFT FOR COMMENT) - issued by the Minnesota
Pollution Control Agency, December 2004 [see also
Fact Sheet]
Public meetings on the draft statewide mercury reduction plan will
take place later this winter or early spring. A formal 30-day
solicitation for comments will be placed in the State Register after
the public meetings. To be added to a notification list for the
meetings, contact Howard Markus at the MPCA, 651-296-7295 or
1-800-657-3864 or
howard.markus@pca.state.mn.us
MPCA Commissioner Wants More Mercury Reductions in State - MN
Pollution Control Agency, June 3, 2004
Estimated Mercury Emissions in Minnesota for 1990, 1995, & 2000 -
March 2004 Update - MN Pollution Control Agency, March 2004
Mercury Free Zone
Minnesota's Impaired Waters - 2003 Report to the Legislature
[also the
Appendix]- MN PCA, March 2003
Voluntary Agreements to Reduce Mercury Contamination - includes
Alliant Energy, EVTAC Mining, Great River Energy, Hibbing Taconite
Company, Ispat Inland Mining, Koch Petroleum Group's Pine Bend
Refinery, LTV Steel Mining Company, Metropolitan Council
Environmental Services, Minnesota Power, Northshore Mining Company,
National Steel Pellet Company, Northern States Power Company,
Olmsted County, Otter Tail Power Company, Western Lake Superior
Sanitary District
About
Environmental Mercury - What Is It, Where Does It Come From - by
MPCA
Mercury -
Frequently Asked Questions - from MPCA
MN Department of Health
Environmental Health Program
Other Organization's Materials
Reducing Mercury Pollution - Workable Solutions for Minnesota's
Waters - Izaak Walton League of America Midwest Office, October
2004
Connecticut's Efforts to Reduce Mercury Emissions from Power
Plants
Connecticut's Proposed Rules to Limit Mercury Emissions from Power
Plants - New Rules Project
Wisconsin's Efforts to Reduce Mercury
Emissions from Power Plants
Wisconsin's Revised Mercury Emissions Rules for Power Plants -
proposed by WI DNR, June 2003
Wisconsin Stewardship Network's Mercury Project
Mercury and Electricity Production -
Reports and Other Information
Additional Analyses of Mercury Emissions Needed Before EPA Finalizes
Rules for Coal-Fired Electric Utilities - U.S. EPA Office of
Inspector General, February 2005 [see also
Executive Summary and
Statement of Inspector Nikki L. Tinsley]
Poison Plants - Oceana, January 2005
Scientific Facts on Mercury - by GreenFacts, November 2004
Get Tested For Mercury Contamination - nationwide program from
Greenpeace
Reel Danger - Power Plant Mercury Pollution and the Fish We Eat -
U.S. PIRG Education Fund, August 2004
Taking Stock 2001 - North American Pollutant Releases and Transfers
- North America Commission for Environmental Cooperation, June 2004
Coal and oil-fired power plants are the top air polluters in the
United States and Canada according to most recent data. Power plants
accounted for 64 percent (43,384 kg) of all mercury air emissions,
mainly from coal combustion.
Mercury in the Great Lakes Basin - Background Paper - North
American Commission for Environmental Cooperation, May 2004
Emissions
& Generation Resource Integrated Database (E-GRID) - Providing
Environmental Characteristics of Electric Power Generation, EPA,
February 2004
Prenatal Exposure to Mercury From a Maternal Diet High in Seafood
Can Irreversibly Impair Certain Brain Functions in Children -
Harvard School of Public Health, February 6, 2004
Letter to EPA Administrator Leavitt from the Children's Health
Protection Advisory Committee regarding the dangers to children from
mercury - Office of Children's Health Protection, January 26,
2004
Out of Control and Close to Home - Mercury Pollution From Power
Plants - Environmental Defense, December 2003
Toxic Neighbors - Clear The Air, December 2003
The report provides an in-depth analysis of the quantity and nature
of toxic pollution from coal-burning power plants. Xcel Energy's
power plant in Becker is Minnesota's top contributor to mercury
emissions in the state. The plant produces nearly three times as
much mercury as the second ranked plant, the Boswell Energy Center
in Cohasset.
Mercury Emissions from Coal-Fired Power Plants - The Case for
Regulatory Action - NE States for Coordinated Air Use
Management, November 2003
Integrating Atmospheric Mercury Deposition and Aquatic Cycling in
the Florida Everglades - An Approach for Conducting a Total Maximum
Daily Load (TMDL) Analysis for an Atmospherically Derived Pollutant
- Florida Dept. of Environmental Protection, November 2003
Fedewral Government Resources
Agencies
DOE's Fossil Energy Program's Pollution Controls Section
US EPA's
Acid Rain Program
US
EPA's Mercury page
Toxicological
Effects of Methylmercury - Committee on the Toxicological
Effects of Methylmercury, Board on Environmental Studies and
Toxicology, National Research Council, July 2000
Legislation
Energy Policy Act of 2003 [a.k.a Energy Bill "Lite"] (S. 2095) -
introduced by Sen. Domenici, February 17, 2004
2003 Energy Bill that was considered by Conference Committee in Fall
2003 and filibustered
Mercury Reduction Act of 2003 (S.616) - introduced by Sen.
Collins, March 13, 2003
Omnibus Mercury Emission Reduction Act of 2003 (S.484) -
introduced by Sen. Leahy, February 27, 2003
Acid Rain Control Act (H.R.203) - introduced by Rep. Sweeney,
1/7/2003
Got Mercury?
Get Tested For Mercury Contamination - Learn about the danger of
mercury in our environment and in our bodies. Get tested to find out
if you've had an unsafe amount of exposure, just by cutting a strand
of your hair! A nationwide program from Greenpeace.
Interim Results of Mercury Hair Sampling Project Highlight Negative
Impact of Dirty Power - Greenpeace, October 2004
Minnesota is ranked 22nd in the nation
in amount of emissions from electric utilities, with 2,299 pounds of
mercury released into our air, water and land.
MN Companies and Organizations
Midwest Power Plant Campaign
Mercury
Technologies of Minnesota, Inc.
Mercury Waste
Solutions - Mankato
Non-MN Companies and Organizations
ADA-Environmental Solutions has a section with
Public Information on
their Mercury Reduction Program
Babcock
& Wilcox
Center for Air
Toxic Metals at the Energy and Environmental Research Center -
ND
Clean Car Campaign's Mercury site
Mercury
Free Campaign - National Institutes of Health
Mercury
Policy Project
Powerspan Corp.
South Florida Mercury Science Program - part of the Florida
Dept. of Environmental Protection
Southern
Research Institute
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