WASHINGTON (Dec. 14) -- Sen. Patrick Leahy hailed as a major turning point the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s decision, announced Thursday, to regulate mercury emissions from the nation’s coal-fired power plants.

The rules, which will be implemented under Section 112 of the Clean Air Act, are the culmination of many years of work by Leahy and others to reduce mercury emissions and mercury’s toxic effects, especially on pregnant women and children. Leahy (D-Vt.) has long been the leader on Capitol Hill in fighting for standards to limit mercury emissions.

"Mercury is the last major uncontrolled toxic substance present in our environment," Leahy said. "We have spent decades studying and talking about mercury pollution. Now we are shifting the focus to solutions so we can actually start doing something about it."

Once it is released into the atmosphere, mercury, one of the most toxic substances in nature, makes its way into lakes and streams where it accumulates in fish. The prestigious National Academy of Sciences (NAS), in a July report, upheld EPA’s guidelines on limiting human ingestion of methylmercury –– the form of mercury most toxic to living things. The NAS report also confirmed that methylmercury consumption, commonly through methylmercury-contaminated fish, can cause serious developmental and muscular disorders in infants and young children, where even small doses could cause permanent damage. The NAS concluded in the study that as many as 60,000 newborns each year are at risk of prenatal exposure.

In September, Leahy and Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), led 15 senators in calling on EPA Administrator Carol Browner to, as soon as possible, make a positive determination in regulating mercury emissions from coal-fired utilities. Public health officials in states all along the Eastern Seaboard, including Maine and Vermont, have issued health advisories warning against eating large amounts of fish from local lakes. Snowe, like Leahy, is concerned that the Northeastern States are ‘at the end of the tailpipe,’ when it comes to mercury pollution drifting in from the West.

Leahy has introduced legislation to reduce mercury emissions from all sources, including power plants and municipal waste incinerators. Leahy has also authored a bill specifically targeting the aging Midwestern coal-fired power plants, which are the leading source of mercury pollution that eventually makes its way to the Northeast.

Leahy also is working to protect the public from exposure to methylmercury-contaminated fish. He is preparing legislation for introduction early next year that would compel the Food and Drug Administration to adopt a stricter standard action level for methylmercury in seafood and to advise consumers about the risks of methylmercury-contaminated fish, particularly to women and children.

"Those who pump mercury into our air and water soon will have to take responsibility to reduce these emissions. We know that young children are especially vulnerable to the effects of mercury, and the EPA has shown the leadership needed to protect people and the environment," Leahy said.

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