Take A Hard Look At Mercury Limits

Dominion Virginia Power boasts that its planned Wise County plant will burn coal cleanly using state-of-the-art technology.

Mercury emissions figures in its air pollution permit application tell a slightly different story. Dominion proposes to release up to 49 pounds of mercury per year, but critics contend its permit application contains an opt-out clause.

Of equal concern, Dominion is asking to spew more mercury – a neurotoxin that poses severe risks to developing fetuses and small children – than coal-fired power plants already in operation. If Dominion’s technology is so grand, shouldn’t this plant emit less mercury than older facilities?

The state Air Pollution Control Board must dig to the bottom of these seeming contradictions before it allows the plant to move forward. The health and safety of Virginia residents must be protected.

Mercury already contaminates the North Fork of the Holston River from Saltville, Va., to the state line. In fact, the Virginia Department of Health urges against consumption of fish caught in the river. Mercury becomes concentrated in fish as big fish eat littler ones.

The Department of Environmental Quality traces the North Fork contamination to Olin Industries, which made chlorine and other chemicals in Saltville. Recovery from this legacy of industrial pollution will be harder still if the region is subjected to additional mercury discharges.

Meanwhile, DEQ scientists are still studying airborne mercury emissions to determine whether they pose a direct threat to human health. The scientists also are examining the relationship between airborne mercury and the poison’s concentration in fish. They will present their findings to state lawmakers in October. Presumably, this could lead to tighter controls on mercury emissions in the state.

Against this backdrop, Dominion is asking to release up to 49 pounds of mercury into the air each year. That’s down from an initial request to spew 72 pounds of mercury annually from the plant.

Dominion lowered the figure after a federal court ruled that power plants must use the best available technology to control mercury. This reversed a Bush administration decision to exempt power plants from some pollution-control requirements.

Dominion’s critics aren’t certain the company is committed to the new, lower number. They point to an opt-out clause that would allow the power plant to release more mercury under certain circumstances.

This seems particularly problematic in light of Dominion’s plans to burn waste coal, also called gob piles, in the plant. Critics contend this coal waste contains far more mercury than traditional coal, particularly if it is washed before it is burned.

Critics also contend that other power plants, even older ones, do a better job at reducing mercury. Dominion’s own Clover Power Plant in Halifax County, Va., emits a mere 17 pounds of mercury per year. A Reliant Energy plant in Pennsylvania, which uses similar technology to that proposed for the Wise plant, emits just two pounds of mercury annually.

It gets worse. The Air Pollution Control Board noted that the Wise plant would emit more mercury than eight other coal-fired power plants in Virginia combined. Such a fact is hard to reconcile with Dominion’s clean-coal claims.

Many of the region’s residents have embraced the power plant for purely economic reasons. Are they willing to risk their health when it seems, at least on the surface, that Dominion isn’t doing all it can to reduce mercury contamination?

The Air Pollution Control Board must determine why the proposed mercury emissions are so much higher than those of other, already-operational coal-fired plants. If waste coal is the problem, then Dominion should be forced to abandon plans to burn it. The relative cost savings isn’t worth the risk.

If this plant is built, and we do not concede that it should be, every effort must be taken to reduce the risks to area residents and to the environment. It isn’t enough to meet minimum federal regulations if it is clear that most players in the industry are doing an even better job of controlling mercury. Dominion has pledged to use the best available technology; state regulators must force the company to live up to its promises.