Study finds mercury high in Maine fish

RAYMOND – Almost 90 percent of fish taken from Maine waterways and tested for mercury as part of a federal study contained unsafe levels, a report by an environmental advocacy coalition found.

The report, “Reel Danger: Power Plant Mercury Pollution and the Fish We Eat,” is based on early data of an Environmental Protection Agency study examining chemical residues in fish. Agency officials said the study misconstrued data and left no reason to change recommendations on eating freshwater fish.

The first two years’ worth of data from the EPA study show that 89 percent of the fish samples collected from 14 Maine lakes contained mercury levels above the limit that environmentalists consider safe for women of childbearing age.

Fish in waterways elsewhere in northern New England also tested dangerously high, the study found. About 75 percent of fish tested in New Hampshire and 100 percent in Verrmont contained dangerous levels in mercury.

Nationally, about 2,500 fish collected from 260 bodies of water from 1999 to 2001 showed the presence of mercury, the report said. The toxic metal can cause neurological and developmental problems, particularly in young children.

Environmentalists said mercury levels were no surprise, but the data gave environmentalists and politicians another opportunity to challenge the Bush administration over its air pollution control policies.

The report, released Tuesday, was prepared for Clear the Air, a joint campaign of the Clean Air Task Force, the National Environmental Trust and the U.S. Public Interest Research Group. The study recommended restrictions on mercury emissions.

Nationally, 55 percent of the fish sampled contained mercury at levels considered unsafe for women, and 76 percent contained levels considered unsafe for children under the age of 3.

The report puts the safe limit at 0.13 parts per million for people who eat two fish meals per week.

At a press conference near Sebago Lake, environmentalists and public health advocates criticized the Bush administration’s proposal for controlling mercury pollution as falling short of what the Clean Air Act requires.

The EPA has proposed a cap-and-trade program that would allow power plants to meet mercury emissions limits through a system of buying and selling pollution credits. Opponents of the proposal argue it would not result in meaningful reductions in mercury pollution until 2025.

The EPA has received more than 600,000 public comments on the issue. Maine has joined a coalition of 11 states opposing it.