Letter from Congr. Levin's office re mercury pollu

Dear Mr M.

Thank you tor contacting me about mercury pollution. I am glad you shared your
concerns with me.
As you may know, mercury is a naturally occurring trace element that can be
extremely toxic to the central nervous system. A bi-product of many industrial processes
including coal fueled power generation, mercury can be converted to an organic form, methyl
mercury, 'which accumulates in the bodies of animals, especially in fish Mercury is so toxic
that as little as 1/70 of a teaspoon can contaminate 25-acres of lake For many years, there
have been advisories against eating fish caught in the Great Lakes because of the level of Mercury. More intormation regarding these advisories call be found at the Michigan
Depallment of Environmental Quality website at: http//www.michigan.gov/deq/
Last December, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued two proposed
rules for early review that seek to address mercury pollution from power plants The first would set up a so called cap-and-trade program similar to the program now being used to control acid rain under the Clean Air Act's 1990 amendments Under-this proposed rule, mercury caps would be set at 34 tons in 2010 and 15 tons by 2018. The EPA also proposed that the administration, set up "maximum achievable control technology" (MACT) standards for all power plalnts. The Bush admlnistration's MACT approach would require all power plants
to cut emissions to 34 tons overall by 2007. The official proposed rule is expected to be published prior to the end of January at which time a period tor pl'ulic COI'1ment v/ill be established.
l have long worked to protect the Great Lakes and ensure that all Americans have
access to clean water I will continue to monitor this situation as it develops.

[sorry for errors, our OCR stinks.]