08/23/2006

Mercury remains a major concern

By
Record-Eagle staff writer

Record-Eagle/Sheri McWhirter
The Pulliam coal-fired power plant sits at the mouth of the Fox River in Green Bay, Wis.

GREEN BAY, Wis. — The wide, murky mouth of the Fox River separated a group of mercury experts from the Pulliam coal-burning power plant in Green Bay.

The facility operates six boilers, the latest a 1964 model, said Randy Oswald, manager of environmental programs for WPS Resources, the energy company that operates the plant.

"A plant being built today would have a lower particulate matter emission level allowed," he said. "There are periods where we've had more than the allowed opacity limits and we strive to bring those to zero."

Eileen Pierce, air and waste specialist with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, said officials make a concerted effort to reduce air emissions and improve air quality.

"At least a dozen times a year we have ozone conditions that are not good for those who are sensitive to those changes," Pierce said.

Hydrologist and geochemist David Krabbenhoft, of the U.S. Geological Survey, said mercury deposits on land run into water bodies and enter the bodies of fish that subsequently are consumed by wildlife and humans. Mercury then is absorbed into brain matter and causes irreparable damage, he said.

"This isn't a state problem or a regional problem. This is a worldwide problem," he said.

Krabbenhoft said there's no doubt that every mercury emission source affects local areas.

"What's variable is how far the emissions travel and where," he said.

Coal is the last remaining major cause of mercury pollution that remains unregulated, Krabbenhoft said, and there is no way to know what effect emissions in Asia, Africa and Europe will have on North America and the rest of the world.

Oswald said WPS doesn't mind making pollution control changes, but all energy companies need a set of emissions rules to plan for the future, while meeting consumer demand and working with environmental and regulatory agencies.

"It's creating that balance between the environment and providing low-cost energy to customers," Oswald said.

Environmental attorney David Bender is fighting to decrease allowed mercury emissions on behalf of the Sierra Club and Clean Wisconsin, as well as spur cleanups at existing contamination sites. New coal plants will be locked-in to technology for decades and cause more air and water pollution and human health problems, he said.

"Once you go back and look at all of that, coal isn't such inexpensive energy anymore," Bender said.

More than 30 new coal-fired power plants recently have been proposed in Great Lakes states, a spurt that deserves public consideration, he said.

Bob McCann, spokesman for the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, said there are no statistics about how much air pollution from Wisconsin, Illinois and Indiana affects Michigan.

But parts of western Michigan often aren't in compliance with federal air quality standards and there is no reason for it, apart from being downwind from highly populated and industrial areas elsewhere in the Midwest.

"That's the way the wind blows, literally," McCann said.