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03/28/2005: "Industrial poisoning of our drinking and sporting waters"

GULF OF MEXICO:
POISONING SPORTSMAN'S PARADISE
Mercury enters the Gulf of Mexico from many sources-from coal-burning
power plants, chlor-alkali plants, and other combustion sources, as well as river
discharges, particularly from the Mississippi River.1 Large amounts of rainfall
combined with high emissions in the Gulf States have created a "hot spot" for
mercury that runs from the Mississippi River in Louisiana to the southern tip of
Florida. According to the Mercury Deposition Network, in Mobile, Alabama, the
level of "airborne mercury deposits was two to five times greater than the
quantity recorded over much of eastern North America" in 2003. Mercury levels
ran from 18 micrograms per square meter west of New Orleans to 26.8 micrograms
near Bay Minette and 28.8 micrograms by Fort Lauderdale. These levels
are clearly higher than the 4.9 to 11.2 micrograms typically seen on the Atlantic
Coast, Northeast, and upper Midwest.2
Failure to limit these human-induced sources of mercury to the environment
has resulted in Gulf-wide fish advisories. For instance, larger king mackerel
throughout the Gulf are so contaminated that advisories, which frequently apply
only to women and children, instead apply to everyone. Because people who
live in the Gulf states rely so heavily on fish in their diet, they are at an
increased risk for mercury contamination. In a study of 65 people, the Mobile
Register found that Gulf Coast inhabitants who eat fish regularly might have
mercury contamination in their bodies five to 10 times higher than levels considered
safe by the EPA.3

FLORIDA:
IMPACT TO VACATIONLAND
All of Florida's waters, lakes, and rivers are
under fish consumption advisories for some
species because of mercury contamination.
Florida's largest emitter of mercury pollution is the
Crystal River power plant, helping the state to
rank 18th in the nation for mercury pollution.1
The Bush administration's failure to clean up
mercury pollution in Florida's waters recently
prompted the Sierra Club to file a lawsuit challenging
the EPA's illegal approval of a list of
impaired Florida waters. This list, submitted by
Florida's Jeb Bush administration, omitted 97
mercury-contaminated waters from the state's
mandatory clean-up list of polluted waters.
Instead, several of these waters were put on an
unauthorized "planning list," which means that
the state has no immediate schedule to clean up
these waters even though they are impaired by
mercury.
1 2002 Toxic Release Inventory

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