South Carolina to decide on mercury controls tomorrow

Columbia – The South Carolina Board of the Department of Health and Environmental Control will determine tomorrow what level of mercury controls, if any, to require of South Carolina’s coal-fired power plants. During a meeting and public hearing, the DHEC board will hear from environmental, public health and utility representatives. The hearing will take place tomorrow at 10:00 AM at the Department of Health and Environmental Control (address below).

“Unlike any other state in the Southeast, South Carolina is in a unique position to adopt strong mercury controls that won’t cost its utilities a dime. There is no good reason why the DHEC board shouldn’t do all it can to protect the state’s women and children from this harmful and toxic pollutant,” said John Suttles, Senior Attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center.

The proposed DHEC rule is modeled after a weak federal mercury rule that establishes a cap and trade system to control mercury. However, the federal rule sets South Carolina’s mercury cap higher than the state’s current emission levels and then allows utilities to trade most of the excess credits. This gives South Carolina utilities an opportunity to make a financial windfall without ever installing a single mercury-specific control on any of their coal-fired units.

The DHEC proposal does set aside 25 percent of the excess credits in a separate account that utilities would have access to should they exceed their annual allowance. Those excess credits will not be “retired” from available use by utilities until 2023.

“Giving utilities the opportunity to dip into these allowances gives no incentive for them to reduce their mercury emissions. DHEC should retire all of the excess allowances for mercury it was given by the federal government so that South Carolinians could see real reductions in mercury over the next 20 years at a cost that is free to utilities and free to taxpayers,” said Suttles.

Mercury is a powerful neurotoxin that, when released into the air by coal-fired power plants, deposits in local water bodies. Fish are then contaminated with mercury which moves up the food chain, putting women of childbearing age and children particularly at risk for learning disabilities, lower IQs, and cognitive delays. Approximately 10 percent of women of childbearing age have enough mercury in their bloodstream to put their children at risk of adverse health effects. In 2006, fish advisories were issued for 60 water bodies in South Carolina, including the entire coastline, because of the elevated mercury levels in fish.

Despite claims to the contrary by industry, the most recent science confirms that as much as 73 percent of mercury in South Carolina waters comes from nearby sources. In fact, the entire eastern plain of South Carolina is a mercury “hotspot” – a localized area of elevated mercury concentration.

Across South Carolina, minority populations and those living below the poverty line are more likely to live near coal-fired power plants. These populations are also less likely to have access to health care, and therefore less likely to be able to make informed choices about fish consumption. In addition, African Americans are more likely to fish as a means to provide dinner for themselves and their families, further increasing their risk of mercury contamination.

Address of DHEC Board meeting: Room 3420; South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control; 2600 Bull Street, Columbia