While we're on the subject of the evils of coal...

[Susan Gawarecki <loc@ICX.NET>]

Here is an interesting piece of research.  Too bad they didn't measure

the radioactivity in the sediments as well.  I wonder how the

coal-burning signature would compare to the above-ground testing

signature.  This would be an interesting thesis topic.  [Maybe STAR

would fund it, if you said you were looking for radioactivity from

nuclear power plants in the region.]



My personal opinion only,

Susan Gawarecki



This story appeared on http://www.individual.com Agust 7, 2001

_________________________________________________________



Mercury at bottom of Central Park Lake linked to coal burning in NYC



RENSSELAER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE/TROY, N.Y.



While the debate rages over the future of the nation's energy resources,

including the potential increase in the number of coal-burning power

plants, researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic  Institute have linked

coal plant emissions to toxic levels of mercury.



Their study shows that the level of mercury in sediment at the bottom of

New York's Central Park Lake is at least 10 times the amount found in

some

industrial areas.



"The atmospheric input of mercury to the sediments is the highest I have

ever seen. We know mercury is toxic, and we know it accumulates over

time. The question is, is this acceptable?" said Richard Bopp, associate

professor of earth and environmental sciences at Rensselaer and a

leading authority on PCBs and other pollutants in the Hudson River, New

York Harbor, and elsewhere.



Bopp's findings are especially significant in light of this year's 

power

shortages in California and the ensuing controversy over coal-burning

power plants. A recent report by the U.S. Environmental Protection

Agency predicted that the emission of hazardous air pollutants by

coal-fired utilities would increase 10 percent to 30 percent by the year

2010.



Bopp's team studied core samples of lake sediment dating back to the 

1860s.  After consulting historical records of coal consumption in the 

city, Bopp concluded that domestic coal-fired stoves and furnaces, 

industrial fuel use, and coal-burning power plants left much of the

toxic residue.



Bopp's study showed the highest atmospheric inputs of mercury in levels 

of sediment dating from the early 1900s, when coal use peaked in the 

New York City area.



Last December, the EPA reported the emission of mercury as the greatest 

health concern posed by coal burning.



Coal-fired plants in the United States emit an estimated 52 tons of 

mercury into the atmosphere per year.



The EPA believes a plausible link exists between the emission of mercury

from coal-fired utilities and the amount of mercury found in the air,

soil, and water. The ingestion of fish contaminated with mercury is

thought to play an important rule in exposing humans to this toxic metal

known to damage the kidneys, nervous system, and brain.



"The potential for increased mercury in the environment depends, to a 

large extent, on emission controls. The level of emission control that

is appropriate for coal-burning power plants is a significant question

that will have to be addressed," Bopp said.



An earlier study of the same samples, published by Bopp and colleagues

in

Environmental Science and Technology in 1999, concluded that most of the

lead found in the Central Park Lake sediments came not from the use  of

leaded gasoline, as many scientists believed, but from the incineration

of municipal solid waste.



The Central Park Lake study was funded through a Superfund Basic

Research

Grant to Mount Sinai Medical Center. The Rensselaer team worked with

researchers from Columbia University and the New York State Department

of

Environmental Conservation.



CONTACT: Patrick Kurp

Tel: +1 518 276 6542

e-mail: kurpp@rpi.edu

Richard Bopp, professor of earth and environmental sciences

Tel: +1 518 276 3075

e-mail: boppr@rpi.edu

-- 

.....................................................

Susan L. Gawarecki, Ph.D., Executive Director

Oak Ridge Reservation Local Oversight Committee

                       -----                       

A schedule of meetings on DOE issues is posted on our Web site

http://www.local-oversight.org/meetings.html - E-mail loc@icx.net

.....................................................

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