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This article originally provided by
The
Charleston Gazette
By Ken Ward Jr.
Staff writer
West Virginia regulators have begun warning state
residents not to eat fish from certain waterways because of high
levels of selenium pollution.
The state Bureau for Public Health recommended that anglers limit
themselves to one meal per month of any sport fish caught from Mount
Storm Lake in Grant County, Upper Mud Lake in Lincoln County and
Pinnacle Creek in Wyoming County.
Agency officials announced the move on Wednesday, after reviewing
new fish sample data and consulting with the state Department of
Environmental Protection and the Division of Natural Resources.
The selenium warning was among several changes that were announced
in the state’s long list of fish consumption advisories.
“We just wanted to be sure we communicated the presence of this
additional problem so consumers can make informed decisions,” said
Bill Toomey, project manager at the public health bureau, which is
part of the state Department of Health and Human Resources.
Among other changes, the state also made its consumption advisory
for rock bass — no more than two meals per month — statewide because
of high levels of mercury. Previously, that limit had applied only
to certain streams. “We determined we should have a little more
restrictive advisory,” Toomey said Thursday.
The new selenium fish advisory comes as several state environmental
groups are challenging DEP efforts to give the coal industry more
time to clean up illegal selenium pollution from its operations.
Selenium is a naturally occurring element that is found in many
rocks and soils.
In very tiny amounts, it is an antioxidant that is needed for good
health. But in slightly greater amounts, selenium is highly toxic.
In humans, it can cause hair loss, nail brittleness and neurological
problems such as numbness. In aquatic life, very small amounts of
selenium have been found to cause reproductive problems.
In 2003, a broad federal government study of mountaintop removal
coal mining found repeated violations of water quality limits for
selenium in the water downstream from mining operations. The
following year, in 2004, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service produced
its own report, finding troubling levels of selenium in fish
downstream from mountaintop removal mines.
Selenium can be released into the environment during the burning of
coal and other fossil fuels, and by metal smelting. It is also
contained in the leachate from coal fly-ash disposal areas.
After the federal reports linking selenium to mountaintop removal,
coal industry lobbyists tried — so far unsuccessfully — to persuade
lawmakers and the DEP to relax West Virginia’s water quality rules
for selenium.
Then, earlier this year, the Manchin administration moved to give
nearly 100 coal operators three more years to fix violations of the
state’s selenium limits discovered in the 2003 federal study. The
West Virginia Highlands Conservancy, Coal River Mountain Watch and
the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition have appealed that action to
the state Environmental Quality Board.
Joe Lovett, a lawyer for the citizen groups, praised state officials
for adding the selenium warnings to West Virginia’s fish advisories.
“DEP has been ignoring this problem until now,” Lovett said. “I’m
glad that the state is finally taking this seriously, and appears to
be taking the first steps to correct it.”
Information about the new fish advisories is available online at
www.wvdhhr.org/fish/current.asp.
To contact staff writer Ken Ward Jr., use e-mail or call 348-1702.
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