Mercury Pollution

Dangerous to the Southeast

Upon eating tainted fish, a mother can expose her unborn child or breast-feeding infant to mercury contamination, putting her child at risk for lowered intelligence, learning difficulty, even brain damage. Alarmingly, one in six American women has enough mercury in her blood to pose a risk to her unborn child. Across the country, mercury pollution, which is largely emitted from power plants, has contaminated 10.2 million acres of lakes, estuaries and wetlands and 415,000 miles of streams, rivers and coasts.

Southerners are particularly at risk. A high number of coal-fired power plants and the unique ecology of waterways combine to make the Southeast increasingly vulnerable to mercury pollution and the dangerous health affects that accompany it.

The Southeast has an unusually high number of coal-fired power plants, many of which have outdated pollution controls, and none of which specifically control for mercury emissions. Nationwide, power plants account for 40 percent of mercury emissions. In some states in the Southeast that number climbs to 60 to 70 percent. As a result, in 2001, emissions from power plants in the Southeast comprised approximately 20 percent of the total mercury emissions from power plants nationwide.

States in the Southeast are among the top states nationwide for mercury emissions.
6 of the top 20 states with the highest levels of mercury emissions from power plants are located in the Southeast.
The problem is only getting worse. Mercury air emissions in Alabama, Georgia and North Carolina increased upwards of 16 percent between 2001 and 2002.

Our unique ecology of wetlands and "blackwaters" filled with high levels of organic matter contributes to high levels of mercury contamination in our waters and the fish that inhabit them. Coupled with excessive emissions, the region's natural vulnerability results in much of the region's waterways being dangerously contaminated.

Mercury contamination in marine and freshwater fish in the Southeast routinely violate safe standards for human health. As a result, fish consumption advisories have continued to cover more fish in more waters in an attempt to urge pregnant women, children and breast-fed infants, among others, to reduce or avoid their consumption of many freshwater fishes.

Coastal residents throughout the Southeast, whose diets are traditionally higher in fish and shellfish, may also be exposed to unsafe levels of mercury. For example, a study of residents of southeastern Alabama found elevated levels of mercury in those who ate seafood weekly.

This contamination also threatens the Southeast's economy. Commercial fishing is a key industry in the region, contributing approximately $300 million to the local economies. Sport fishing is also a key component of the region's economy, stimulating retail sales, supporting jobs, and providing tax revenue.