Mercury, water, intersex - Appalachian Center for the Economy & the Environment

Mercury
Recent government studies show that West Virginia streams are dangerously contaminated by mercury. Fish from these streams contain toxic levels of mercury that can harm those who eat them. The threat to human health from the consumption of mercury-contaminated fish is much higher than previously thought and is especially damaging to fetuses. EPA now calculates that twice as many people, one-sixth of all women of childbearing age in the U.S., carry blood mercury levels that threaten the health of the unborn. Children exposed to even low levels of mercury before birth can experience catastrophic neurological and developmental impairments, permanent IQ loss and numerous other serious diseases. EPA estimates between 300,000 and 600,000 children each year are exposed in the womb to mercury levels high enough to pose risks of lowered IQ and other problems.

A recent study conducted by the Mt. Sinai School of Medicine found that the loss of intelligence resulting from mercury exposure causes diminished economic productivity that persists over the entire lifetimes of these children. Lost productivity in the U.S. amounts to $8.7 billion annually. While the exact number of children poisoned by mercury in West Virginia is unknown, the legacy of mercury pollution will certainly dim our future for years to come.

Statewide Fish Consumption Advisory
With recognition of mercury pollution growing across the state, and in response to pressure brought by the Appalachian Center, West Virginia recently issued a statewide fish consumption advisory because of the alarming build-up of mercury, PCBs and dioxin in the state's fish.

Unfortunately, the fish consumption advisory carries no regulatory teeth to force clean up of toxic mercury pollution. One way to help clean up mercury pollution, however, is through Clean Water Act controls.

Mercury petition
The Center recently petitioned EPA to review and update West Virginia's water quality standards for mercury, thereby laying the groundwork for future litigation if state and federal agencies fail to update these standards. The standards establish a regulatory cap on the amount of mercury pollution a stream can safely handle.

Chlor-Alkali Plant in New Martinsville
PPG's New Martinsville Natrium plant is the number one source of mercury pollution in West Virginia and the twenty-ninth largest source of mercury pollution in the entire Nation. Mercury-laden air emissions from the plant and its pollution discharges to the Ohio River account for over 1200 pounds of mercury released into the environment each year. The use of newer technologies that completely eliminate the need for mercury when producing chlorine could prevent ALL of this pollution. Remarkably, however, PPG still produces chlorine by a process -- devised in 1894 -- that requires the use of large vats of mercury.

Weak permits and lax oversight by WVDEP have enabled PPG's continued use of the antiquated mercury process, thereby keeping the health of our citizens -- especially our children's health -- in peril. The Center is now focusing on PPG's Natrium plant and has recently submitted comments on the plant's water discharge permit. In investigating water pollution discharges from the plant, Center staff discovered serious deficiencies in the draft permit that would allow potentially dangerous levels of mercury, benzene, carbon tetrachloride, vinyl chloride, phthalate, and other toxics to be discharged into the Ohio River.

Fish Abnormalities in the Potomac
In the past two years, male fish producing eggs (a condition called "intersex") have been found in widespread areas of West Virginia's Potomac Headwaters. The geographical extent of this problem is unknown - thus far, data show the problem exists in a four-county area of West Virginia and more intersex fish were recently found 160 miles further downstream, a mere 60 miles from the D.C. metropolitan area.

Intersex is caused by endocrine disrupting substances polluting our waterways. These powerful contaminants are now under close public scrutiny, not only because of their serious impacts on aquatic ecosystems -- often impairing sexual function and weakening immune systems -- but also because of their potential adverse effects on human health. Recent data from West Virginia's Cancer Registry indicate a potential link between intersex and some cancers in residents of the Potomac Headwaters area.

USGS, the federal government's scientific arm, has been collaborating with WVDEP, WVDNR, the WV Department of Agriculture, and EPA on research to determine the source of the problem. Already, political shenanigans are bubbling to the surface as early press releases by WVDEP have broken the past policies of both state and federal governments not to broadly disseminate early and potentially misleading preliminary data.

The Center will continue to focus on the intersex problem and take steps to counter political moves made by the various agencies involved in this investigation.

This information has been posted throughout the Potomac Headwaters of West Virginia to enhance the reporting of both fish kills and fish with sores. Click here to see the poster.

Anti-degradation
Our precedent-setting 2003 federal court victory resulting from our challenge of EPA's approval of West Virginia's illegal anti-degradation plan continues to have significant, far-reaching implications for the Clean Water Act's implementation nationwide. Meanwhile, EPA and WVDEP are implementing more stringent regulations required under the court order issued in that case. We are now working to ensure that WVDEP complies with these new regulations.

We are monitoring WVDEP's issuance of discharge permits to ensure full compliance with the Clean Water Act's anti-degradation provisions and have already filed appeals with West Virginia's Environmental Quality Board (EQB), challenging several permits that failed to comply with the state's new anti-degradation regulations.

Two of these appeals concerned nearly identical issues but led to very different results. EQB heard our appeal of a Massey Coal Company permit that discharged to Hominy Creek. The law was clearly and decisively in our favor. While the Board was deliberating in that case, WVDEP agreed to settle in our favor a similar case involving the J.F. Allen quarry on Shavers Fork. WVDEP clearly admitted its interpretation of the law was wrong and agreed to a settlement that forced it and J.F. Allen to comply with the anti-degradation laws. Just days after this settlement agreement was reached, the Board split in a 2 to 2 tie decision on the Massey Coal facility, effectively affirming the illegal Massey permit. The vote by two members of EQB contradicted the plain reading of the law and flies in the face of WVDEP's admission in the J.F. Allen case. We plan to file an appeal in Circuit Court once the board's written order has been entered.

Buffer Zone Rule
West Virginia's Surface Mine Board of Appeals rejected our defense of a 1999 federal court ruling that the buffer zone rule, a regulation promulgated pursuant to the federal Surface Mining Act, prohibited the dumping of mine waste into stream valleys. The Board upheld a permit issued by the W.V. Department of Environmental Protection in defiance of the buffer zone regulation. That permit also fails to address important reforestation requirements. Although we have appealed the decision, recent election results will make it very difficult to sustain our original victory.

Additionally, recognizing that a victory for us in this action will harm its friends in the coal industry, the Bush administration reacted to our appeal by proposing to eviscerate the federal buffer zone regulation. As you know, we filed substantial comments on that proposed rule change and believe that the proposed changes would violate federal law. If the proposed rule change becomes final, we may be forced to pursue legal action against the U.S. Department of the Interior to preserve the current rule.

Coal mining has left a legacy of pollution in central Appalachia. Acid mine drainage destroys aquatic life and makes water unfit for human consumption and many industrial uses. Tremendous amounts of iron cause streams to run red. In West Virginia alone over 500 streams are impaired by acid mine drainage.

Acid Mine Drainage
Our June 2004 challenge of a permit that WVDEP issued knowing that the mining would create perpetual acid mine drainage (AMD) into the Potomac watershed has broad implications for the health of waters throughout the region. Unless this permit is overturned, coal that has not been subject to mining because of state and federal policies to deny permits where production of AMD is expected will likely be mined after all. This return to the irresponsible permitting practices that allowed thousands of miles of streams throughout the region to be killed by AMD negates decades of citizen concern, comment, litigation, and negotiations to prevent further AMD destruction of our region's waters. West Virginia's Surface Mine Board issued a split (3-3) decision on February 9, 2005, effectively affirming WVDEP's issuance of the permit. The Board members who voted to affirm the permit are all long-time supporters of the coal industry. It is just remarkable that we are required to litigate these cases before such a partial tribunal, and we are considering action to challenge the legitimacy of the surface mining permit appeals process.

On behalf of the West Virginia Rivers Coalition, the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy, the West Virginia Council of Trout Unlimited and the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition, we have asked the Office of Surface Mining, Reclamation and Enforcement (OSM) to review West Virginia's issuance of this permit. In addition, we continue to monitor WVDEP's permitting actions and, if need be, will file appeals of future permits that would result in long-term AMD.