Watchdog Update: The real story on mercury?

Earlier this year, amid a push to build a new coal-fired power plant in the Pee Dee, Santee Cooper launched a campaign called "The Real Story on Mercury," with company officials and consultants suggesting that concerns about mercury contamination are overblown.

For instance, in an article in the utility's magazine, PowerSource, Jay Hudson, Santee Cooper's environmental manager said, "There has never been a case of environmental mercury poisoning in the United States." The agency's Web site, therealstoryonmercury.com, makes similar claims.

Watchdog asked the Environmental Protection Agency about the statement.

"I don't know how Santee Cooper defines 'poisoning,' " said Dale Kemery, a press officer in EPA's Washington, D.C., headquarters who asked the agency's top mercury experts for a response. But he cited recent studies in Wisconsin, the Great Lakes and elsewhere across the country that show people suffering significant health effects from eating mercury-tainted food, even food containing tiny amounts of mercury.

"These (health effects) would meet the criteria for poisoning, I think," Kemery said, adding that another study found an association between mercury exposure and heart attacks.

Dr. Paul Dantzig, a New York dermatologist who teaches at Columbia University's School of Medicine, treats several patients a week for mercury-related health problems and has done studies showing a connection between mercury exposure and Parkinson's disease.

He described Santee Cooper's statements on mercury as "highly inaccurate. We see a lot of mercury toxicity and all cases are environmentally related because most mercury comes from seafood."

In the PowerSource article, Santee Cooper's mercury consultant, Gail Charnley, said the EPA "has concluded that the country's fish-eating population, including the recreational anglers, is not at risk from U.S. freshwater fish."

Kemery of the EPA said that "unfortunately some fresh water fish have been shown to contain levels of mercury" that exceed the EPA's recommended limit, and that women should check with state health officials about what kinds of fish are safe to eat.

Are people in South Carolina at risk? According to the state Department of Health and Environmental Control, some species in certain rivers are so contaminated that people shouldn't eat a single bite, particularly pregnant women. The state has mercury warnings on 1,700 miles of rivers and along the coast.

In addition, a Watchdog analysis of nearly 4,800 tests on fish caught by DHEC found that 12 percent contained more than 1 part per million of mercury, the limit established by the EPA and Food and Drug Administration. If these fish had been sold on store shelves, the FDA could order a recall.

State-owned Santee Cooper is seeking a permit from DHEC to move forward on its Pee Dee plant.

Reach Tony Bartelme at 937-5554 or tbartelme@postandcourier.com.