Region pushes EPA on water pollution

[YankeyMCC]

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Fish in more than 10,000 bodies of water in the Northeast are too contaminated with mercury for pregnant women and young children to regularly eat. But now the New England states and New York are trying to force federal environmental officials to regulate mercury emissions from distant coal-burning power plants.

To meet existing federal and state water-quality standards, the seven states have asked the Environmental Protection Agency to require an estimated 90 percent reduction in mercury pollution from the nation's power plants. Because states in this region already strictly regulate mercury emissions, the plan would largely apply to plants elsewhere.
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"New England states have taken extraordinary steps to control mercury, but it keeps pouring in from the Midwest," said Arleen O'Donnell, acting commissioner of the state Department of Environmental Protection. "We cannot lift our fish consumption advisories unless EPA takes more control over mercury that comes from outside our states' borders."
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In recent years, federal officials have estimated that more than 300,000 children may be born in the United States each year with neurological problems because of mercury exposure in the womb.
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http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/04/12/region_pushes_epa_on_water_pollution/