Plant to end mercury use

In what state officials are hailing as a big victory for the environment, Wisconsin's largest source of mercury pollution is expected to disappear in two years.

But it could take far longer before officials lift a public health advisory for eating fish contaminated by the industrial pollutant.

Mercury emissions will fall by an estimated 28% after a Port Edwards chlorine plant switches over to a new manufacturing technology in 2009.

The decision this week is the latest signal that major reductions are on the horizon for a pollutant that plays a key role in state guidelines, which in some instances limit consumption of fish caught in Wisconsin. In addition to ERCO Worldwide's announcement that it will stop using mercury, the Department of Natural Resources is writing regulations to cut up to 90% of the mercury that comes from the other major source: coal-fired power plants.

"There is no possible way to spin this other than to say this is a huge step forward for the environment," said Al Shea, the top air regulator for DNR.

Carl Watras, a research scientist for DNR and the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said some waterways near the plant could begin to have reductions in mercury found in fish in one to three years as fish die out and are replaced with new fish living in cleaner water.

But experts also caution that mercury is an incredibly complex pollutant and that its ability to contaminate fish is influenced not only by chemical reactions in the air and the water but also by government regulations and the actions of other countries.
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