NEW REGS WILL HELP MERCURY CONTENT IN WV STREAMS - Little Kanawha On "Danger List"

(03/16/2005)

The Bush administration appears to have done an about-face over new regulations on coal-burning power plants in West Virginia and 27 other states, that will help protect fetuses and young children from mercury. The regulations are the first mercury controls on coal-burning power plants. The government says the new power plant regulations will cut mercury pollution from electric utilities nearly in half by 2020. Mercury is a toxic chemical. If you're been eating lots of fish out of the Little Kanawha River, you might want to re-think your menu. The Little Kanawha has a considerable amount of mercury. The Bureau for Public Health, Division of Natural Resources and Department of Environmental Protection issued a fish consumption advisory a few months ago related to the amount of Mercury in the Little Kanawha. Mercury contamination could cause a problem for individuals if too many fish are consumed. A two-year study that sampled fish from 56 locations prompted state health, environmental and natural resource officials to issue a statewide advisory about possible mercury contamination from fish caught in seventeen streams or rivers, also including the Ohio and Hughes Rivers. The EPA is trying to meet a court-ordered deadline in a settlement with the Natural Resources Defense Council, which sued 13 years ago.

Hur Herald ®from Sunny Cal The information on these pages, to the extent the law allows, remains the exclusive property of Bob Weaver and Dianne Weaver The Hur Herald. All information may be freely used but must not be sold or used in any type of commercial endeavor, or used on any web site without the express permission of the owners ©Bob and Dianne Weaver, The Hur Herald, 1999, 2000, 2001