Need for power fuels mercury contamination
Updated 05:19 p.m., October 30, 2007
Steel mills, trash incinerators and other industries also contribute
South Carolina's coal-fired power plants, steel mills, cement factories and incinerators pump thousands of pounds of mercury into the air every year, and many of the worst offenders are in and around the Charleston metropolitan area, government records show.
By law, industries are required to tell state and federal regulators what kinds of pollutants their plants put into our air, rivers and lakes.
The Mercury Connection
Monday, October 29
Need for power fuels mercury contamination
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Sunday, October 28
'Mercury is a poison. People only begin to show symptoms when enough cells die.'
Many industries use elaborate computer simulations to estimate their emissions, while some have special monitors that measure what goes up their plants' smokestacks.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency collects these calculations every year and produces its 'Toxic Release Inventory.'
The state Department of Health and Environmental Control also produces its own emissions inventory, and in some cases the two rosters have conflicting numbers, a situation that reflects the complexity of calculating pollution levels.
Both rosters show, however, that South Carolina's coal-fired electrical generators are the biggest sources of manmade mercury pollution in the state.
Those power plants pumped more than 1,460 pounds of mercury into the air and streams, according to the EPA's 2005 Toxic Release Inventory, the latest statistics available.
According to DHEC's emissions inventory, these power plants released more than 1,276 pounds of mercury.
Factories and incinerators also are major contributors.
According to DHEC's roster, Charleston County's trash incinerator in North Charleston, operated by Montenay, a private company, released 128 pounds of mercury in 2005, more than some coal-fired power plants.
Nucor's steel plant in Huger was at the top of EPA's list in South Carolina, with 421 pounds of mercury emissions.
But Nucor recently recalculated its emissions using a different method and now says a more accurate number is 63.2 pounds, said Ray Sims, the plant's environmental manager. (In DHEC's roster, Nucor emitted 64 pounds.)
Sims said the company had been calculating its emissions by using measurements from a one-time test of its stacks and extrapolating the results over a year. He described that method as relatively crude.
Now the company bases its calculations on the amount of mercury it thinks enters the plant. Most of the mercury is in automobile switches in shredded cars the plant smelts. Sims said a new state law encourages auto salvage yards to remove switches, so the plant should emit less mercury in the future.
When it comes to coal-fired power plants, Santee Cooper's Winyah generators in Georgetown and SCE&G's generators in Cope and Goose Creek were the biggest offenders, cranking out between 160 and 210 pounds of mercury apiece, EPA figures show.
Santee Cooper officials said that since 2005 they've spent more than $100 million to install equipment that scrubs mercury and other pollutants from their plants. At Georgetown, emissions should drop to about 70 pounds a year, said Jay Hudson, Santee Cooper's environmental manager.
Hudson said he thinks that Cross' two new generators emit about 30 pounds per year now, based on new monitoring equipment the company recently installed. That's less than half the mercury emissions the company reported in 2005.
All utilities are required to install similar monitors by 2009, and Hudson and other utility officials said they think this monitoring will show their plants are releasing less mercury than they've been reporting in recent years.
Santee Cooper installed the scrubbers on some of its plants only after being forced to as part of a 2004 settlement with the U.S. Justice Department. The company got in trouble when inspectors discovered that it had started construction of new coal-burning facilities without permits.
Scana is spending $370 million to install scrubbers on its Williams station in Goose Creek and its Wateree Station near the Congaree Swamp National Monument in the Midlands. That equipment should be installed by 2009, said Robert Yanity, a company spokesman.
Cement plants and incinerators are another significant source of mercury pollution.
Giant Cement Co. and LaFarge near Ridgeville emitted 181 pounds of mercury, records show. Giant recently expanded and modernized its plant, a $233 million project that should reduce its annual emissions to about 33 pounds a year, said Richard Familia, vice president of environmental affairs.
LaFarge is trying to change the materials it burns in its furnaces to reduce mercury emissions, said Scarth MacDonnell, plant manager.
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Comments
This article has 5 comment(s)
Posted by dmwallac on October 29, 2007 at 1:34 p.m. (Suggest removal)
And perhaps one day you'll need to go to a website (that is, on the nights when you have power) to see what days of the week you can run your a/c and heater, use hot water, have lights...
On the bright side, you get to have fish every day.
Posted by NHOJ on October 29, 2007 at 4:58 p.m. (Suggest removal)
The ones making the silly coments are probably not local people .Ya'll are not from here and probably dont go out and swim and fish around here.I live on the river and its in bad shape.Ive worked in all the plants mentioned above and ive seen first hand what they put in the river an lakes.Ya'll remember when the local shrimpers shrimp caught fire in his cooler?
Posted by BillytheKid on October 29, 2007 at 7:02 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I live here and used to vote for republicans most of the time, but no more. They are elected because most people in South Carolina are afraid that if they vote another way the blacks will take over.
It is time for someone else, that cares, to be elected into office. It is not OK for polluters to be let off the hook by laws that protect them. South Carolina laws can be bought and paid for. I remember "Operation Lost Trust" and how the attorney general, of South Carolina, said that "he was going to prosecute then, because he wanted to make sure they paid for their crimes". All of them got off on some BS reason and they had them on tape taking the bribes, and some were re-elected to office. How dumb is that?
I don't believe someone has to move if they don't like something. They can try to change what they don't like with a vote.
I also don't believe that the continued polluting of the waters should be allowed anymore. I believe the plants should be at today standards today and not years down the road. I believe that the shareholders of the companies that are not to today’s standards should not get a dime until that company is up to standards.
I see by some of the post that some people are happy living in an armpit. I am not and I don't see how they can come up with the BS scare tactics. Must be with the side that wants to clog up the rivers.
Posted by NHOJ on October 29, 2007 at 9:48 p.m. (Suggest removal)
And one other thing i failed to mention was the new Edisto East project that mead/westvaco has planned for the lower edisto river.Where do they plan to put all public works water run off? The river is at a record low for this time of year.As fast as the river rises mead/westvaco is permited to pull a hundred million gallons of water a day from it.I called and checked the permit,the person that checked on it said it was odd tobe prmitted like it was.Most permits are usually issued for four years and if the rver gets to a certain level they gotta stop pulling water but i was told they can pull water until the river runs dry.The permit is for 30 years........So what can you do? The almighty dollar is all that matters.I thought SC was done with coal,i think there are two more scedualed to be built here.
Posted by angryinjun on November 24, 2007 at 6:19 p.m. (Suggest removal)
If you want your shrimp to catch fire, add phosphorous. Go back to WWII for this...Willy Pete? White Phosphorous. Add air, and BOOM!!! Burns Japs Good. How many power plants are releasing phosphorous?
Mercury? It's been there since, well, forever. It's called a blackwater swamp. Get used to it.