Massachusetts gets C-minus for mercury cleanup efforts

August 2001

U.S. Water News Online

BOSTON -- A coalition of environmental groups has given Massachusetts a C-minus for its efforts to clean up mercury emissions.

The recently-released report by the New England Zero Mercury Campaign, criticized the state Legislature for failing to pass laws that would phase out mercury products.

``The summer school assignment for Massachusetts is to pass pending legislation that would phase out mercury products by 2010,'' John McNabb of Clean Water Action said in a statement.

The report card praised acting Gov. Jane Swift for announcing regulations that will make Massachusetts the first state to limit power plant mercury emissions.

The report also praised the state Department of Environmental Protection for requiring that trash incinerators begin to separate mercury products from the rest of the trash before burning.

Even though the grade appears to be low, the fact Massachusetts is doing something is noteworthy, said Gina McCarthy, assistant secretary for the environment at the Executive Office of Environmental Affairs. Some states are doing little or nothing to control mercury emissions.

``To the extent that we're at least in school, we're doing well,'' McCarthy said.

Massachusetts has begun public service announcements to inform people about products with mercury, has set up a hot line with information about mercury products, and has even begun giving out mercury brochures with fishing licenses, McCarthy said.

``We'd rather have been an A, but we're certainly trying to get there,'' she said.

Maine, with a B, got the best grade. Connecticut and Rhode Island each earned Ds. New Hampshire was given a D-plus, while Vermont got a C.

The New England Zero Mercury Campaign is a coalition of nine environmental groups.

Mercury is a highly-toxic, naturally-occurring element released into the environment from mining, the production and disposal of consumer products, dental amalgam, and from burning fossil fuels and other materials.

One in 10 women of childbearing age is exposed to mercury in seafood and freshwater fish that can harm their unborn children, according to a March 2000 study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The recent report graded the states in 10 areas ranging from the ability to remove and recycle mercury products to the ability to communicate mercury warnings.

Among the key findings:

• New England states have significantly reduced mercury emissions through pollution controls on trash and medical waste incinerators. Consumer products containing mercury must be phased out in favor of safer alternatives.
• The six states have done a poor job in reducing and preventing mercury releases from dental amalgam, the so-called silver fillings that consist of about half mercury. Dental fillings constitute the largest source of direct mercury pollution in wastewater.
• New England states have moved too slowly to reduce mercury emissions from the region's coal-fired power plants. Massachusetts has regulations to require mercury reductions, but New Hampshire and Connecticut, which also have coal-fired plants, have none.

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