Minnesota has met its goal of cutting home-grown mercury emissions by 70 percent since 1990, but must cut more to make state fish safe to eat.
That's the report of the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency to the Minnesota Legislature released Tuesday.
The 1990 Legislature set a goal of cutting mercury emissions from state sources by60 percent by 2000 and 70 percent by 2005.
But the PCA acknowledges that fish caught in many Minnesota waters are still too polluted with mercury to be safe for children and others to eat.
The report recommends raising the mercury bar from 70 to 93 percent, but stops short of saying how or when to get there. Instead, state officials say those details will be worked out in coming months as part of a federal Clean Air Act process called TMDL -- Total Maximum Daily Load.
Most of the information in Tuesday's PCA document was reported late in 2004.
"Now we have to go further, and we'll be meeting with all sorts of stakeholders over the next year to see how to get there," said Ned Brooks, the PCA's mercury reduction coordinator.
Most of Minnesota's mercury cuts so far have come from removing mercury from consumer products such as thermostats and switches, as well as from waste streams that go into garbage burners and hospital incinerators.
But the two largest sources of mercury, coal-fired power plants and taconite plants, remain largely unregulated. Mercury emissions from those sources increased from 1990 to 2000, and PCA Commissioner Sheryl Corrigan predicted mercury emissions will rise after 2010 unless new steps are taken.
Earlier this year, the PCA came under fire when it was revealed the agency, after holding unannounced meetings with industry officials, removed any timetable for future mercury reductions from the upcoming TMDL effort. Some state leaders said the PCA appeared to be bowing to industry demands rather than protecting the environment.
Brooks said the goal, cutting mercury by 93 percent, has never been in doubt. It's also clear that some sort of industry regulation is likely, he said.
"It's clear that, to reach that 93 percent level, we're going to need further reductions and likely either state or federal regulation," Brooks said. "But we aren't yet suggesting any new regulation at this point. And we aren't suggesting a timetable. Those will be decided over the next year" in the TMDL process.
PCA scientists last December said they think they know the origin of mercury falling in Minnesota. But solving the problem is difficult because it comes from hundreds, even thousands, of miles away.
Of the mercury that falls here, about 30 percent comes from natural sources such as volcanoes. The other 70 percent is generated by humans, most outside the state's borders.
The PCA said that in 1990, Minnesota's share of the mercury that falls here was 11,271 pounds. That needs to be cut to 785 pounds annually before mercury levels in fish will drop enough to be considered safe.
If the state's goal is to be reached, mercury emissions from Minnesota power plants must be cut by about 82 percent.
It's not clear if that kind of reduction is possible in all cases. But Duluth-based Minnesota Power last week announced plans for $60 million in new pollution control equipment at two power plants, including technology that has cut mercury 95 percent in large-scale testing.
Nancy Lange, speaking for the Izaak Walton League of America, said the state needs to move quickly to cut emissions and not wait for federal rules to work. She noted voluntary reductions from large industries clearly haven't worked in recent years.
"The big mercury reductions we've made since 1990 were because of state and federal regulations. It's clear that to finish the job, to make fish safe to eat, we need to look at specific regulations for specific industries, namely energy and taconite," Lange said. "Mercury also is coming into Minnesota from other sources, so it becomes important that the state set an example so other governments follow suit."Duluth News Tribune
