The Greenpeace, the Sierra Club and the Environmental Quality Instiute at the University of North Carolina just released interim results of a landmark study of mercury in humans. For some reason, I expected those places near coal-fired power plants -- Nashville, Memphis, Pittsburgh, Chicago -- to have populations with high mercury levels. That was wrong. Crunching some numbers shows that mercury concentrations are highest in the bodies of residents in:
1. Honolulu
2. Tampa, FL
3. Norwalk-Stamford, CT
4. Naples, FL
5. Nassau-Suffolk, NY
6. Tallahassee, FL
7. Dutchess County, NY
8. LOS ANGELES-LONG BEACH, CA
9 San Diego, CA
10 West Palm Beach-Boca Raton, FL
That's right -- in the places where the well-heeled eat a lot of fish. It strikes me as most ironic that California, which has tried so hard over the years to keep coal-fired plants safely out of state (we outsource pollution, one environmentalist told me), could not keep the mercury out of its residents' bodies. Behind Hawaii, Alaska, New York, Connecticut, Oregon and Arkansas (Arkansas? Why Arkansas?) the state ranks 6th in a breakdown of residents' mercury levels by state.
More on this in the next few days.
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Judith:
If you check, you will find that the Tampa Bay area is home to at least two large coal fired power stations. One of them, the Big Bend station on the southern side of the Bay, burns about 20,000 tons of coal per day at full power, and it runs at that level a good portion of the time. Just up the coast there is a station called Crystal River that has 4 large coal fired plants and consumes about the same quantity of coal each day. (The more famous Crystal River nuclear plant produces ZERO emissions.)
It did not surprise me in the least to see Tampa near the top of the list - you have a perfect storm of coal fired power produced in a place where people eat a lot of sea food.
Bummer - I lived in the area for about ten years, and my daughters pretty much grew up there.
Fortunately, no damage.
Posted on February 8, 2006 4:02 PM by Rod Adams
Thanks Rod. I didn't even realize that Crystal River was both nuclear and coal. I'll pay a little more attention to the Tampa data when I comb through it today. It does indeed sound like "the perfect storm" for mercury pollution. It seems to me the citizens of Tampa should be outraged.
Posted on February 9, 2006 1:02 PM by Judith
Judith:
Here is a link to a reasonably detailed picture of the Crystal River Power Plant site. Though the title is Crystal River Nuclear Plant, you can see the stacks, cooling tower, and fuel handling equipment for the four coal fired plants on the site.
http://www.nukeworker.com/pictures/displayimage.php?album=99&pos=9
Rod
Posted on February 9, 2006 3:02 PM by Rod Adams
It is actually surprisingly that California ranks so LOW in mercury poisoning of its residents, since we have one of the highest concentrations of seafood restaurants in America ...
Posted on February 11, 2006 7:02 PM by Bill Bradley
Let me slightly rephrase that as I flash across the Internet before a dinner out in San Francisco, hopefully not involving seafood ... Mercury is not one of the major byproducts of coal-fired power plants.
As readers may know, one of the dirty little secrets of the LA DWP is COAL. But the "externalities" are all externalized, to Utah and the rest of the Intermountain West.
Posted on February 11, 2006 7:02 PM by Bill Bradley
Judith, as you know, mercury is not a byproduct of coal-fired electric power production.
Posted on February 11, 2006 7:02 PM by Bill Bradley
Hi Bill -- I'm not sure what you're getting at by saying "Mercury is not one of the major byproducts of coal-fired power plants." Coal-fired plants in the U.S. produce a third of the country's mercury pollution. As I understand it, much of the mercury in our fish gets into the water that way (via mercury deposition).
But maybe you mean something else?
I hope you had a good dinner, preferably of free-range chicken, or organic beef.
Judith
Posted on February 13, 2006 10:02 AM by Judith
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