On August 9 Citizens for Pennsylvania’s Future and other environmental groups submitted a petition to the Environmental Quality Board and the Department of Environmental Protection asking the state to adopt its own rules for limiting mercury emissions from power plants.

"DEP Secretary Kathleen McGinty has correctly and forcefully criticized the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for refusing to regulate mercury as the serious health, environmental and economic problem it is," said Jan Jarrett, PennFuture's director of outreach. "It is clear that the EPA isn't budging on this, so Pennsylvania must take action, just as New Jersey, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Wisconsin are doing. It's time for strong actions to match our strong words."

"One in six women of childbearing age has so much mercury in her body that her nursing infant or fetus is in danger of brain damage," said Charles McPhedran, senior attorney at PennFuture. "In addition, our state's streams and fish are so contaminated with mercury that Pennsylvanians have been warned to restrict their consumption of fish to avoid being poisoned. In addition to its health and environmental effects, mercury contamination of Pennsylvania fish also has negative impacts for our fishing industry, which a report by the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources estimates has a direct economic impact of $800 million each year.

"The problem is ours to solve," continued McPhedran. "In 2001, the Keystone plant in Shelocta (Armstrong County) had the highest releases of mercury and mercury compounds to the air of any electric utility plant in the country. In 2002, Pennsylvania utilities were third in the nation with 6,986 pounds of mercury and mercury compounds emitted into the air. We're calling on DEP to take immediate action and to regulate mercury emissions from Pennsylvania's power plants."

The request was filed on behalf of PennFuture and its members, Pennsylvania State Building and Construction Trades Council, Pennsylvania Federation of Sportsmen's Clubs, Pennsylvania Trout, Pennsylvania National Organization for Women (NOW), Planned Parenthood Pennsylvania Advocates, Women's Law Project, WomenVote PA, PennEnvironment and Sierra Club Pennsylvania Chapter.

Under the EQB’s rules for reviewing a petition, DEP staff will review the petition to see if it meets the acceptance criteria. It is “complete” if the proposed action is an action the EQB can take and it doesn’t conflict with federal law. DEP must report back to the petitioner and the EQB within 30 days. If the petition doesn’t meet the criteria, the petitioners are giving another 30 days to make corrections and resubmit. If it does meet the criteria, the petitioners are given the opportunity to give a presentation to the entire board and then they must decide whether to accept the petition or not.

NewsClips: Groups Seek Mercury Restrictions

Groups Demand Reduced Mercury Emissions in PA

8/13/2004