2. EPA Study Finds Mercury in Every Fish Sample from America's Lakes
Contact: Emily Figdor or Liz Hitchcock, 202-546-9707
http://www.ems.org/rls/2004/08/03/ep...ml#top_release
EPA Study Finds Mercury in Every Fish Sample from America's Lakes:
Controversial Bush Plan Would Delay Cleanup for at least 10 Years

Washington, DC-In recent U.S. EPA tests of fish caught from America's
lakes, every fish sample tested was contaminated with mercury, 55
percent contained mercury levels that exceed EPA's "safe" limit for
women of childbearing age, and 76 percent exceeded the safe limit for
children under age three according to a new Clear the Air report
released today.

"Reel Danger: Power Plant Mercury Emissions and the Fish We Eat" comes
as the Bush administration prepares to finalize a highly controversial
proposal to delay meaningful reductions in mercury emissions from
power plants until at least 2018. The Clean Air Act calls for the
maximum achievable reductions of such emissions by 2008. The Bush
plan, which was written at least in part by utility industry
lobbyists, has sparked unprecedented public opposition and a
nationwide call for strong and timely protections from power plant
mercury emissions.

"Eating mercury-contaminated fish can affect the way young children
think, learn, and grow," stated Emily Figdor, author of the report and
policy analyst for Clear the Air. "More than half of the fish samples
EPA tested were unsafe to eat for women in their childbearing years.
We simply cannot wait 10 years for energy companies to make mercury
reductions that they can make today," she continued.

Power plants are the single largest source of mercury emissions,
contributing 41 percent of U.S. mercury emissions. Other industrial
sources have reduced their mercury emissions by more than 90 percent
within a few short years, but power plants continue to emit unlimited
amounts of mercury into the air.

"Clean air and clean water are absolutely critical to our health,"
stated Clear the Air Director Angela Ledford. "The mercury reductions
in the Bush administration's plan are too little, too late. The
Administration should require power companies to meet the same
standard that every other industry has met," she said.

Mercury is toxic to the developing brain, and exposure in the womb can
cause learning disabilities, developmental delays, and other serious
health problems in children. EPA estimates that one in six U.S. women
of childbearing age has enough mercury in her blood to put her child
at risk. Eating contaminated fish is the primary way people are
exposed to mercury.

Power plants released 90,370 pounds of mercury into the air in 2002,
the most recent year for which EPA data are available. Texas, Ohio,
Pennsylvania, Indiana, and Illinois lead the nation for the highest
power plant mercury emissions.

The technology is available to reduce power plant mercury emissions by
at least 90 percent.

"Reel Danger" is based on the first available data from EPA's ongoing
National Study of Chemical Residues in Lake Fish Tissue. From
1999-2001, EPA collected approximately two composite samples of one
predator fish species and one bottom-dwelling fish species at 260
lakes, for a total of 520 composite samples, or 2,547 fish.

Key findings include the following:

All of the fish samples EPA tested nationwide were contaminated with
mercury. Nationwide, 55 percent of the fish samples exceeded the safe
mercury limit for women of average weight who eat fish twice a week
and 76 percent exceeded the safe limit for children of average weight
under age three who eat fish twice a week. Predator fish, including
smallmouth bass, walleye, largemouth bass, lake trout, and Northern
pike, had the highest average mercury concentrations. "Mercury
pollution is pervasive in America's lakes. These results underscore
the need to reduce mercury emissions from power plants as much and as
quickly as possible," said Figdor. "Delaying action for at least 10
years will unnecessarily expose an entire generation of children to
toxic mercury pollution," she concluded.