A poison wind: Toxic mercury blows into Utah from Nevada

[Guest guest]

via Carrie Dann-http://www.sltrib.com/ci_2700092A poison wind: Toxic mercury blows into Utah fromNevadaBy Patty HenetzThe Salt Lake TribunePoison is blowing eastward from Nevada, and Utah is inits path. Mercury is floating out of smokestacks into theatmosphere from a cluster of gold mines near Elko thataccount for as much as 11 percent of the nation'stotal mercury emissions. Utah's mountain high country,its urban heart and the irreplaceable ecology of theGreat Salt Lake are directly downwind. Named for the Roman god of commerce, profit andthievery whose winged shoes sped him as the gods'messenger, mercury is a heavy metal that can foul theenvironment. Mercury exposure has been linked toneurological and kidney disease, loss of motor controland death. Pregnant women and young childrenespecially are at risk. Federal researchers estimate that more than 300,000newborns each year may have an increased risk oflearning disabilities associated with prenatalexposure to organic mercury that their mothers ingestfrom fish and shellfish. University of Texasepidemiologists have linked increasing incidences ofchildhood autism to mercury. It is considered such a threat to human health thatCongress ordered the Environmental Protection Agencyto make rules to cut mercury coming from coal-firedpower plants, the main source of global atmosphericmercury. Yet the Nevada mines are under no such stateor federal regulations. Rather, the four largest mining companies haveentered into a voluntary mercury emissions reductionprogram crafted with EPA's Region 9 office in SanFrancisco. The program's results have been mixed. "This voluntary program has resulted in someemissions reductions. But they could stop complyinganytime they want," said Idaho Conservation Leaguespokesman Justin Hayes. "Mercury is such a powerfulneurotoxin, you want this stuff controlled to themaximal point possible, not to the levels the goldmining industry wants to." The Conservation League is ready to sue the EPA toforce it to impose emissions reductions rules on theNevada mines. In an Oct. 21 letter to then-EPAAdministrator and former Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt, theConversation League charged that prevailing winds andatmospheric circulation patterns send huge plumes ofmercury into southern Idaho, possibly contributing tomercury-related fish consumption advisories. And what goes for Idaho ought to go for Utah, Hayessaid. "It's probably time for the state of Utah topull its head out of the sand," he said. "There's nosafe level of mercury in your environment." Up the food chain: In that case, says Salt LakeCity environmental activist Ivan Weber, Utah again isa guinea pig much as it was during Cold War atomictests in Nevada that sent fallout eastward. "Salt Lake City's burgeoning, youth-weightedpopulation may be the real canary in this mine, alongwith the birds of the Great Salt Lake extendedmigratory ecosystem," he said. Glenn Miller, a professor of natural resources andenvironmental science at the University of Nevada,Reno, is a Great Basin Mine Watch board member and anexpert on Nevada gold mines and mercury. In a Marchreport prepared for the EPA that uses 1998 emissionsreports and extrapolates backward to 1985, Millerestimated the 18 Nevada gold mines released between 70and 200 tons of mercury. That's probably an underestimate, he said, becauseseveral mines aren't reporting atmospheric emissions.One reported producing about 120 tons of byproductmercury but zero emissions - which Miller says is ascientific impossibility. Scientists know that mercury can travel greatdistances. It's understood that methylmercury, theelement's organic form, can get into the bodies ofhumans who eat fish and shellfish. Less clear is howelse mercury might be harming people, animals or theenvironment. Research continues into whether mercury fromamalgam dental fillings contribute to Alzheimer'sdisease. Methylmercury from gold mining is beingblamed on the re-emergence in the Amazon of Minimatadisease - named for a Japanese fishing village where1,500 people were poisoned in the 1950s. Consumption of predatory fish high on the foodchain such as swordfish and shark is of particularconcern in south and southeast Asia, Africa and China.At the same time, California officials have issuedwarnings about eating bass, catfish, bluegill, hitch,carp, trout and crayfish from Sierra Range streamsfouled by gold mining. Merthymercury contamination "is potentially a majorimpact on the recreational industry in Utah," Millersaid. "You're going to be wondering if you should eatthe fish you catch." "Urgent science": Federal scientists studying theGreat Salt Lake have reported finding some of thehighest levels of mercury anywhere in the nation. Thelake is in a basin surrounded by mountains that act asa collector for passing storms. Storms from the westgenerally pass over northern Nevada, part of thelarger area known as the Great Basin. The water thatlands in the basin is in turn evaporated andredeposited nearby. "A mercury cycle looks a great deal like the watercycle," said Weber, a sustainable energy consultant."Some mercury falls out near the source, but not allof it. There's a distance of travel function we needto understand. Those Nevada [mines] have suddenly madethis urgent science." Miller said that because mercury is drifting aroundthe globe, including huge amounts from China'scoal-fired plants, it would be difficult to determineexactly where the mercury in the Great Salt Lake, oranywhere else, came from. It's unlikely the mining industry is responsiblefor all the mercury in Utah and Idaho, "but it is fairto say there is a significant fraction," he said.Still, "I would be surprised if in the Uintas youdidn't have some pretty significant mercury loads." If so, the state Department of EnvironmentalQuality hasn't identified them. Utah has nomercury-related fish consumption advisories. Butthat's because Advertisement the state hasn't tested the fish to see whethermercury is accumulating in their flesh. Utah Division of Water Quality Director Walt Bakersays the state is still developing testing protocolsfor fish tissue and other freshwater aquatic life,though a "limited number" of tissue samples have beensent to EPA. One sample exceeded the level of whatthey would consider acceptable, Baker said. Miller believes Utah environmental regulators oughtto be talking seriously with their Nevadacounterparts. "In Nevada, the only place mercury falls is inElko. But who's due east of all the mercury releases?Salt Lake City," said Miller. "I would not livedownwind of one of those places. Utah needs to tellNevada to get the hell in gear. We need to go afterthe industry with both fists." The Idaho Department of Environmental Qualityestimates the northern Nevada mines may be responsiblefor up to 11 percent of all the nation's mercury stackemissions. The EPA estimates the mines are responsiblefor 9.57 percent of the releases. The EPA has compiled its annual compendium ofhazardous air emissions and their point sources, theToxic Release Inventory, since 1987, but it wasn'tuntil 1998 that mine emissions were included.Suddenly, Nevada zoomed to the top of the mercuryemissions list. The culprit? Relatively new cyanideand thermal processing techniques used by a dozen orso gold mines, most of them in the state's remotenortheast. "It's a huge issue. It caught everybody bysurprise," said Dave Jones, EPA Region 9 associatedirector of waste management. A voluntary approach: Because there were nospecific rules affecting mercury emissions from mines,Jones said, EPA officials had to decide whether toproceed with a regulatory process known as MaximumAchievable Control Technology, or MACT. But the process is cumbersome and has led to manylawsuits in other instances, Jones said. So SanFrancisco-based Region 9 in 2001 decided to try avoluntary approach: They asked cooperating mineseither to put in MACT-like controls or reduce theirmercury emissions by 50 percent by July of this year. The first mine to participate was the BarrickGoldstrike, the largest single gold mining complex inthe nation. Barrick then helped convince the JerrittCanyon, Newmont and Cortez mines to come along, saidRich Haddock, Barrick's vice president forenvironmental issues. On paper, the mines have made progress. Thenumbers, however, are inconsistent and confusing,because some are actual emissions as reported to theEPA while others are calculated to show what theemissions could be if the processors were runningnonstop, Haddock said. In 2001, the five mines collectively emitted 11,793pounds of mercury, or roughly 90 percent of allreported Nevada atmospheric releases. Jerritt Canyonalone reported to the EPA a release of 7,990 pounds. By 2003, their totals dropped to 4,446 pounds,largely due to reported reductions from the Jerrittmine, whose emissions fell to 793 pounds. By comparison, the average coal-fired plant emits120 pounds of mercury. Older plants in the easternU.S. report 250 to 400 pounds of mercury emissions. The Nevada Division of Environmental Protectioncontrols the mines' permits, which are up for renewalthis year. The state could include some of thevoluntary emissions control measures as conditions ofthe permits. But those in the agency who spoke withThe Tribune were unfamiliar with some of the basicissues. Colleen Cripps, chief of Nevada's air qualityplanning, didn't know how the voluntary programstarted and said she didn't know what emissionscontrols were in place. Mike Elges, Nevada's chief ofair pollution control, didn't know whether the statewould take a regulatory stance to further reduce theemissions. Elges said the state was assessing theprogram's results, but said he wasn't convinced that the mercury emitted from the mine's processors was thesame type of mercury that comes out of coal-firedplants. Miller scoffed at that notion. "There is no scientific basis for suggestingmercury coming off a thermal process like a [gold ore]roaster or a power plant is going to be significantlydifferent," he said. "It's all going to be elementalmercury, and that's the form that moves most quicklyin the environment." Mercury facts Mercury facts l Mercury occurs naturally in the environment butalso has been introduced through human activity,particularly from coal-fired power plants and mining. l It is toxic even in small amounts. While mostheavy metals are toxic in the parts per billion,mercury is toxic in the parts per trillion. l Methylmercury, the organic and most toxic form ofthe element, collects in water, plants and animals.Predatory fish such as tuna, salmon, swordfish andtrout have been found to have high levels of mercuryin their tissues. Humans who eat mercury-laden fish,in turn, are tainted.