Wednesday, January 10, 2007

new study on mercury hotspots

Two new studies on mercury hotspots by the Hubbard Brook Research Foundation identify fourteen mercury hotspots (five known, and nine suspected) in the northeastern area of North America. The studies--published in BioScience, suggest that one of the causes are coal-fired power plants in the United States. Expect these studies to come up in both current environmental and health litigation surrounding these areas, as well as in upcoming permit approvals for new power plants or power-plant expansions, as well as litigation surrounding permit approvals.

1 comment:

steph::.... said...

Not according to the study. It looks like there's still ongoing mercury deposition from coal-burning electric power utities, as well as from municipal waste combustors. (I'm getting this from p. 25 of the Driscoll study.)