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from the Chicago Sun-Times Saturday June 21, 2003, page 13
Link: http://www.suntimes.com/output/otherviews/cst-edt-kirk21.html

Last month, the National Wildlife Federation released a disturbing report indicating elevated levels of mercury pollution in Chicago's North Shore rainwater. The results reverse what all of us long assumed about rain. Instead of cleaning Lake Michigan, the rain is actually contaminating our most precious natural resource.

The report underscores our mercury pollution problem. It is time to go beyond warning people about mercury by taking steps to significantly end mercury pollution.

Mercury has a severe impact on the health of Lake Michigan. Although mercury levels in rain are not dangerous to those who drink rainwater or get it on their skin, mercury becomes dangerous when it is increasingly concentrated as it moves up the food chain in the fish eaten by people and wildlife. Mercury contamination in Illinois is so widespread that we now have a statewide fish advisory warning people to limit their consumption of a number of predator species, including walleye and northern pike, two popular game fish.

The amount of mercury in a thermometer--about a 70th of a teaspoon--is enough to contaminate a 25-acre lake. The latest study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that one in 12 American women of childbearing age has mercury levels in her blood above the levels considered safe for the developing fetus. About 14,000 babies in Illinois are born every year at risk of neurological damage because of mercury. The evidence is overwhelming. To protect the health of our states and citizens, we must do better.

In the United States, mercury emitted into the air comes from many sources. Under the Clean Air Act, we have cut emissions from incinerators by 90 percent. The largest remaining source of uncontrolled emissions is coal-fired electric power plants. These plants accounted for an estimated 52 tons of mercury emissions annually, about one-third of total U.S. mercury emissions. Coal-fired electric power plants now account for half of the U.S. total of mercury emissions.

Protecting the people of Illinois means setting standards limiting the amount of mercury industry can emit with even stricter standards for pollution near the Great Lakes. Capping mercury emissions and banning new sources of mercury pollution are needed measures to reduce the risk mercury poses in our Great Lakes and across the nation as well as protecting our long-term health. Coal-fired electric power plants need to be subject to the same pollution-control standards currently applied to solid waste incinerator units. Under these standards, municipal and medical waste incinerators, which together accounted for 29 percent of total U.S. mercury emissions before regulation, have achieved emission reductions of 95 percent. This was done in just five years.

Despite this major reduction, mercury pollution remains a problem, as evidenced by the National Wildlife Federation's report. Coal-fired electric power plants should use the same pollution control equipment now mandated for incinerators. The technology is low-tech and it works.

One of our top priorities should be to protect Lake Michigan and the Great Lakes. For too long, we have not done enough to control mercury pollution. Further mercury contamination of the Great Lakes will irreparably damage this fragile ecosystem because once mercury is introduced into the ecosystem, removing it is virtually impossible.

We are at risk and our children are at greater risk if we do nothing to reduce mercury pollution. This may become a defining issue of our decade, and we have the chance to make a real difference for our environmental future.

U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk represents the 10th District of Illinois, which covers the shoreline of Lake Michigan from Wilmette to Waukegan.