Clean Wisconsin  

(Formerly Wisconsin’s Environmental Decade)

Your environmental voice since 1970. 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

August 13, 2003

Contact:       

Marc Looze, 608.347.1714                        

Emily Kordus, 920.722.1579

Peggy Scallon, MD, 608.263.6085

Chuck Rolfsmeyer, 608.513.1004

 

 Wisconsin Citizens Want Mercury Reductions

Now to Protect Health and Tourism

Madison, WI—Today, at a Joint Senate and Assembly Natural Resources Committee hearing, health professionals, concerned mothers, sport fishing groups and others testified in support of a mercury pollution reduction rule for Wisconsin power plants, the largest source of mercury air pollution in the state.  All support a stronger rule than what is being debated in the hearing.  There is a health advisory on all Wisconsin lakes and rivers because of mercury.  The advisory warns pregnant and nursing mothers, all women of childbearing age and children under fifteen to severely limit the amount of large fish they eat.

“As an expert on treating children with neurological disorders, anything, I repeat anything we can do to reduce environmental toxins like mercury will be beneficial to Wisconsin families,” said Peggy Scallon, MD, Clinical Assistant Professor in the UW Medical School Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.  “Reducing mercury pollution is not about regulation; it’s about protecting the health of children and families.”

Emily Kordus, from Menasha, has a 2 year old daughter and is 19 weeks pregnant.  “Mercury pollution is an issue my family faces every week, if not every day.  “My husband is a life member of the Twin Cities Rod and Gun Club of Neenah/ Menasha and loves to fish—and I also love to catch fish,” said Kordus.  “I can live with having to make an alternative meal, but what makes my heart sick are all of those pregnant women and young children out there who are eating fish and who are being poisoned because of power plant companies caring more about their bottom line than about the health of children.”  

“Mercury is not about too much regulation; there are no laws to keep mercury pollution from old coal plants out of Wisconsin’s lakes and fish.” said Marc Looze, mercury campaign director for Clean Wisconsin and the Wisconsin Stewardship Network.  “We need to strengthen the mercury pollution rule so we can best protect the health of our families and our multi-billion dollar tourism economy.”

“We are asking the Legislature to strengthen the rule so that we can achieve our goal to make fish safe to eat for everyone in the future,” said Caryl Terrell, chapter director for the Sierra Club John Muir Chapter.  “We need stricter reductions quicker.”

“I’m tired of spending so much time teaching kids how to fish, then telling them they can’t eat some of the fish,” said Chuck Rolfsmeyer, former President of the Wisconsin BASS Federation.  “Our elected officials have to take action now to help get rid of mercury pollution and make our fish safer to eat.”

“Power companies argue they don’t have the technology to meet the 80% reduction requirement in the rule,” said Looze.  “Thanks to a measurement trick, utilities will only have to reduce 60-65% of mercury pollution.  Technology exists to go farther and history has shown that laws like this mercury drive companies to find cheaper and more effective way to reduce pollution.”

Clean Wisconsin (formerly Wisconsin’s Environmental Decade) is an environmental advocacy group protecting Wisconsin’s water and air, for today and our future.  Contact them at 122 State Street, Suite 200, Madison, WI 53703-2500.   T: 608.251.7020, F: 608.251.1655, EM: clean@cleanwisconsin.org, Web:  www.cleanwisconsin.org.