States calls on EPA to cut Midwest mercury pollution

BOSTON --Vermont and five other states are calling on the Environmental Protection Agency to do more to control the mercury pollution that's blowing into New England from the Midwest.

Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick says pollution from the Midwest's coal-fired power plants is contributing to high mercury levels found in freshwater fish in the Northeast. New York joined Vermont and four other New England states in making the request.

Officials say more than 70 percent of the mercury affecting New England comes from upwind air pollution. The governors have submitted a plan to reduce mercury emissions by 75 percent by 2010.

Patrick says the region is doing all it can, but won't be able to lift restrictions on eating freshwater fish unless the EPA steps in and curbs mercury pollution from outside the region.

The states want EPA to enforce a tough mercury pollution reduction plan under the Clean Water Act.

"The federal government has failed to hold Midwest power plants accountable for the damage they have done to our region's air, water and soil," said Christopher Kilian, director of the Conservation Law Foundation's Clean Water and Healthy Forests Program. "Mercury is a dangerous neurotoxin that continues to impact the health of New England's people and environment."