State plans mercury testingProgram will investigate chemical's effect on people By Tony Bartelme (Contact)
The Post and Courier
Friday, August 1, 2008
State health officials hope to begin a major study this fall or winter into how mercury affects South Carolinians, and whether the state has clusters of people suffering from mercury-related illnesses. So far, state officials have tested only fish for mercury contamination, often finding that certain species in the Edisto, Great Pee Dee and other rivers have such high levels that people shouldn't eat a single bite. The new study's goal would focus instead on mercury's effects on people. Researchers are unsure how many people will be tested, where the tests will be given and many other details, but they hope to wrap up the planning soon. "We're being very thoughtful about how we are going to do this so it truly gives us correct answers," said Erik Svendsen, the lead scientist on the project, adding that "very few states have done anything like this." The study comes on the heels of The Post and Courier's series, "The Mercury Connection," which identified mercury "hot spots" in the state and tested people who eat freshwater fish from these areas. The tests revealed that some people had unusually high levels of mercury in their bodies. Kristi Williamson, who with her husband and two children tested above the safety level for mercury in the newspaper's study last year, was pleased the state Department of Health and Environmental Control is planning to monitor people. "Wonderful. That's excellent news," she said from her home in Aynor, a tiny town in a triangle-shaped area with some of the worst mercury levels in fish in the state. Mercury has been used in everything from switches in cars to dental fillings, and its silvery shimmer has enticed more than a few children to break open thermometers and play with the quivering blobs. Mercury generally ends up in fish because of emissions from coal-fired power plants, cement kilns and natural sources. Emissions fall into waterways, where bacteria transform it into an especially potent neurotoxin called methyl mercury. As this methyl mercury works its way up the food chain, predator fish, such as bass, catfish, swordfish and tuna, tend to accumulate the highest levels. People who eat these fish also can absorb it, and if they eat enough tainted fish, their levels can increase and create serious health problems. Even tiny amounts can cause brain damage in babies, heart problems and other illnesses. After The Post and Courier's series, Earl Hunter, DHEC's commissioner, said the agency would do an intensive review of mercury pollution that would include the first-ever study into whether mercury is harming South Carolinians. This week, Svendsen, DHEC's environmental epidemiologist and a research assistant professor at the University of South Carolina, credited Hunter for making the mercury study a priority. "People are becoming more tuned into this issue, and we want to address this up-and-coming concern," Svendsen said. The study's two main goals are to document typical levels of mercury in people throughout the state, and whether mercury affects specific groups of people, such as those who eat large amounts of freshwater fish from certain rivers, Svendsen said. Only a handful of states and cities have done similar studies. One in New York City found last year that one in four adults had elevated blood mercury levels, and that Asian and higher-income New Yorkers who ate lots of fish had the highest average mercury levels. Svendsen said researchers haven't finalized important aspects of the study, such as whether to test people's hair, blood or both. Both methods have been used in international studies. He said the agency also has yet to determine the study's price tag. He hopes testing could begin in late fall or this winter. The mercury study could add a twist to the debate over Santee Cooper's proposal for a new coal-fired power plant in the Pee Dee, an area with one of the state's worst mercury contamination problems in fish. The debate has grown heated in recent weeks, with Lonnie Cooper, Santee Cooper's chief executive officer, writing in op-ed pieces that mercury isn't a significant problem in South Carolina. Conservation groups were glad to hear about the state's move toward testing. "It's about time," said Nancy Cave, a project manager for the Coastal Conservation League. "I think it's an important acknowledgement that we have a problem." Blan Holman, an attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center, echoed Cave, saying it was "high time that DHEC started testing the people who eat (mercury contaminated fish)." Doug Pardue contributed to this report. Reach Tony Bartelme at 937-5554 or tbartelme@postandcourier.com. |
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Comments
This article has 7 comment(s)
Posted by zoomru on August 1, 2008 at 4:37 a.m. (Suggest removal)
WHAT ???
Lonnie COOPER .... YOU Ravenel'er !!!
"..The debate has grown heated in recent weeks, with Lonnie Cooper, Santee Cooper's chief executive officer, writing in op-ed pieces that mercury isn't a significant problem in South Carolina. ."
Lonnie...Do YOU have children ?? Does your WIFE know you made this statement?? Where do you go to CHURCH ?? DO you even LIVE in South Carolina ??
You...SIR! Need to get a CLUE ! I highly suggest you have a meeting with your DEACONs at your church to referesh your knowledge about being a good steward to people and the environment !! This is a PR oppurtunity of a lifetime !! Wake UP and smell the "NEW TECHNOLOGY" ....einstein !!
Not only is the NEW PEE DEE PLANT GOING TO BE NUCLEAR; but you (yes..YOU!) are going to work with officials at MONTENAY, COUNTY COUNCIL, and the GINN Co. to clean UP OUR OLD LANDFILLS AND CLOSE THE INCINERATOR AND BEES FERRY LANDFILL ....FOREVER!! Do YOU want to be a HERO? DO you want to turn OUR TRASH INTO ENERGY?? What has RAVENEL, FRITZ, RILEY, SUMMEY, HARRELL, McCONNELL done to be IMMORTAL ?? YOU CAN'T tell me that our trash is not ENERGY!! Get a team together and get these PLASMA machines from www.startech.net ON LINE.....NOW! Stop brushing your FEZ at night and start learning about PLASMA!!
We will pay the rates no matter if it is a NUCLEAR PLANT OR COAL...so it better be NUCLEAR. It benefits South Carolina JOBS!! You do care about South Carolina WORKERS .don't YOU??
LONNIE....BY GOD!...make the right decision...NOW!! We need your leadership! Not your good ol' boy botton-line!!
G E T B U S Y !!!!
Posted by panasonic on August 1, 2008 at 9:24 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Nuclear would take too long to build. It will be somewhere between 2015-2020 before a nuclear plant will be online. Sante Cooper has estimated a 370 MW shortfall by 2012 without the Pee Dee Generation Station. I think it is safe to say now one is willing to go 3-8 years without knowning the lights will come on when you flip the switch. Santee Cooper has partnered with SCANA and is in the process of permitting another nuclear facility in Jenkinsville (Fairfield County).
zoomru, just relax a little man.
Posted by zoomru on August 1, 2008 at 9:42 a.m. (Suggest removal)
PANASONIC......
How long has the HORRY LANDFILL been a METHANE trap......!
SANTEE COULD HAVE TAPPED IT using the PLASMA machines instead of COAL!! You mean they didn't know we had 34 ton of nuclear fuel in AIKEN? and PLANNED accordingly?!?
LONNIE is personally held accountable !! along with that SO CALLED BOARD !! THEY obviously think OUR LAND IS CHEAP!!!!
Nuclear ...too long to build ?? Get all these enviro LAWYERS out of the WAY ...and watch the lights TURN...ON!!
This is turning into a taxpayer fleecing LAWYER FEST!!
And everyone goes right along...........
LONNIE.... ARE YOU A LEADER ??!?
Posted by nikkiP on August 1, 2008 at 4:21 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Ever had a conversation with Lonnie Carter, zoomru? And it's these enviro lawyers that are doing what people like you want done.
Horry county is being used as a Landfill Gas Plant, as well as three other landfills in the state. All by Santee Cooper, who is the leading authority on alternative and renewable energy in South Carolina. however, there are conditions that contribute to the usefulness of LFG plants such as the amount of methane being produce, etc.
And people will always complain, until their lights don't come on. They wouldn't have to do this plant if people were a little smarter about their energy usage.
Posted by Rebel_Yell on August 1, 2008 at 4:34 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Since Santee Cooper planned poorly for the future they have the right to further contaminate SC waters and fisheries beyond the current levels which are already unacceptable? "The Lights will go out" campaign is just anoter scare tactic to trick SC citizens into giving them more profits at the expense of our fishery. Let's see what the study says and then decide on the best course of action. I'd rather eat fish in the dark, then starve in the light. It's probaly just a matter of time before this crap starts effecting livestock and vegetation too.
Posted by phred on August 2, 2008 at 8:35 a.m. (Suggest removal)
zoomru - you have no idea what you are talking about. Where do I start?
"NEW PEE DEE PLANT GOING TO BE NUCLEAR"
Do you have any idea how long it takes to get a nuclear license to construct and operate? panasonic is correct in that it will take at least until 2017 to get a nuclear plant on line. Why don't you and your friends just get a list going so the power company will know where to cut their power for 3-5 years while we wait for the nuclear plant.
Oh, and BTW, I find that the same environmental "lawyers" and “activists “ that protest coal plants are the same ones that protest nuclear plants (I have been to many hearings, so I speak from experience). They will only be satisfied when all coal and nuclear plants are halted and we are paying 4-10x the cost of today's electricity with solar, wind and a little bit of natural gas.
“[Santee Cooper is] ..going to work with officials at MONTENAY, COUNTY COUNCIL, and the GINN Co. to clean UP OUR OLD LANDFILLS AND CLOSE THE INCINERATOR AND BEES FERRY LANDFILL ....FOREVER!!”
The current incinerator burns enough garbage (most of Charleston County’s waste, but not all of it) to generate about 13 MW of power. Let’s say your magic plasma machine has perfect efficiency and could generate 25 MW of power from all of the garbage in Charleston. Santee Cooper needs 600+ MW of power. Not even close. Even if we did this at many landfills, I am sure the same enviro "lawyers" and “activists “ will protest this everywhere, I mean, it’s not power from the wind or the sun that lines their non-profit pockets, it is?
Posted by pendolf on August 2, 2008 at 10:04 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Rebel _Yell
First, there are no profits at Santee Cooper. Santee Cooper is a non-profit public power company. They simply make the power and pass that cost to its customers. It has no incentive to “profit” only to take care of its customers in the best way possible, which is to product reliable, low cost power. I used to work there so I can speak from experience.
Santee Cooper’s site, The Real Story on Mercury, has some great info complete with references to science journals (unlike the unreferenced rhetoric from environmental groups) here:
http://www.therealstoryonmercury.com/por...
You can learn this from this site and many others, one way mercury makes it to humans (but not the only way - smoking, dental work are others) is through consumption of fish tissue. This occurs after mercury is deposited in water bodies and reacts to form methyl mercury, which is consumed by small organisms which are then eaten by small fish. Big fish eat small fish then bigger fish eat these and so on until the apex predators, mudfish and largemouth bass in fresh waters in the south, build up mercury in their tissue.
Mercury deposition at extreme low levels will never harm livestock or vegetation as this process only occurs in water, particularly black water swamps and creeks that we have a lot of here.
You can get this from Santee Cooper’s site or many others, but the real truth about mercury is:
1 – Mercury is a global issue. In South Carolina, only 10-15% of mercury deposited comes from US sources. In the US, over 92% of mercury deposition comes from non-US sources. Most of this comes from Asia.
2 – Mercury comes from many sources, not just coal fired plants. Volcanoes, rock weathering, and mining produce far more mercury than coal plants.
3 – US Coal plants account for 1% of man-made mercury worldwide.
Stopping Santee Cooper’s clean, coal fired power plant is not a solution to the fish tissue mercury problem.