Groups Chide U.S. on Mercury Regulations/New England Not Reducing Mercury

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http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/science/AP-Mercury-Contamination.html

Groups Chide U.S. on Mercury Regulations
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Filed at 7:50 a.m. ET

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) -- Environmentalists and two Maryland Democratic congressmen chastised the Bush administration Wednesday for proposed regulations they said will not do enough to reduce mercury contamination of Maryland rivers, lakes and the Chesapeake Bay.

``The Bush administration is trying ... by regulations to undo congressional law,'' Rep. Benjamin Cardin, who represents Maryland's 5th District, said. ``Mercury is a dangerous air pollutant. There is no question about that.''

Mercury is a toxin that interferes with development of the brain and the nervous system in fetuses, said Sarah Tomeo, a field representative for U.S. PIRG, a nonprofit, public interest advocacy group that is active in environmental issues.

Tomeo said the federal Centers for Disease Control estimates that because of mercury poisoning, 630,000 children are at risk each year for a range of problems including brain damage, learning disabilities, attention deficit and heart problems.

``This is no time for the Bush administration to be weakening health protections,'' she said.<snip>

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/science/AP-Mercury-Report-Card.html

Group: New England Not Reducing Mercury
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS CONCORD, N.H. (AP) -- If environmental policy were scored like grade-school spelling tests, New England's mercury reduction efforts wouldn't get any gold stars.

New England has failed to make progress in mercury reduction since last year, according to an annual report card put out Wednesday by the New England Zero Mercury Campaign -- a coalition of environmental groups committed to reducing mercury emissions in the region's six states. The region gets an overall grade of C-plus for its mercury-reduction efforts.

Half the states -- Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont, got Cs, while Connecticut, Maine and Rhode Island did slightly better with Bs. Only Rhode Island improved, moving up to a B from B-minus.

``Failing to prevent mercury pollution means additional education and health care costs to an already inadequate state budget,'' said Doug Bogen of New Hampshire Clean Water Action, a member of the Zero Mercury Campaign.

In Northern New England, state environment officials said the report card is valuable for drawing attention to mercury reduction, but may not present a full picture of mercury reduction activities because it only rates improvements from year to year.<snip>


http://www.cleanwateraction.org/mercury