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They are alredy regulating this and have made significant reductions. The bigger issue just like CO2 it's global issue. According to the EPA themselves most of the mercury produced in the US is not deposited here but instead enter the atmosphere and goes into the global pool. The US accounts for 3% of the global pool, 1% is from US coal fired power plants:
Quote:
Mercury emitted from coal-fired power plants comes from mercury in coal, which is released when the coal is burned. While coal-fired power plants are the largest remaining source of human-generated mercury emissions in the United States, they contribute very little to the global mercury pool. Recent estimates of annual total global mercury emissions from all sources -- both natural and human-generated -- range from roughly 4,400 to 7,500 tons per year. Human-caused U.S. mercury emissions are estimated to account for roughly 3 percent of the global total, and U.S. coal-fired power plants are estimated to account for only about 1 percent.
EPA has conducted extensive analyses on mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants and subsequent regional patterns of deposition to U.S. waters. Those analyses conclude that regional transport of mercury emission from coal-fired power plants in the U.S. is responsible for very little of the mercury in U.S. waters. That small contribution will be significantly reduced after EPA’s Clean Air Interstate Rule and Clean Air Mercury Rule are implemented.
Source: Mercury Emissions: A Global Problem (http://www.epa.gov/mercuryrule/factsheetfin.htm - broken link)
Most of the mecury generated by US industries is not depostited within he US:
Quote:
The U.S. is the third largest emitter of anthropogenic mercury although its emissions, estimated to account for roughly three percent of the global total, are far lower than emissions from China, the largest source globally. In the U.S. and globally, coal combustion is the largest source of anthropogenic mercury emissions. (United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), The Global Atmospheric Mercury Assessment: Sources, Emissions and Transport (PDF), Geneva, 2008) (44 pp., 6.8M, about PDF).
EPA has estimated that about one third of U.S. emissions are deposited within the contiguous U.S. and the remainder enters the global cycle.
FYI natural emissions equal new man made emissions:
Quote:
Natural sources of mercury—such as volcanic eruptions and emissions from the ocean—have been estimated to contribute about a third of current worldwide mercury air emissions, whereas anthropogenic (human-caused) emissions account for the remaining two-thirds. These estimates are highly uncertain. Land, water, and other surfaces can repeatedly re-emit mercury into the atmosphere after its initial release into the environment. Much of the mercury circulating through today's environment is mercury that was released years ago. The pie chart below shows that anthropogenic emissions are roughly split between these re-emitted emissions from previous human activity, and direct emissions from current human activity.
Don"t the new light bulbs "they" want us to use contain mercury? And it is left up to the general public to dispose of them "properly"? Are we supposed to ship them where? Dump them where? No place to return them where I live. Guess it will go to the landfill with everything else?
I was thinking along the lines of a global trap, extraction and clean-up operation.
Anything more we do will not amount to much, it needs to be addressed globally . The more you try and remove US emissions the more it costs US industries, the more jobs going overseas to China. I would suggest tighter emissions standards here in the US will have reverse effect and increase emissions.
That's what happens when a light bulb turns on in a liberal mind.
Course, liberals are more likely to get vaccinated, and have mercury fillings.
The liberals are also fond of fluoridated drinking water.
One thing just seems to lead to another.
"An aircraft in which mercury has been spilled must be put into quarantine until the amalgam makes its presence known. Ultimately, the aircraft is likely to be scrapped because the engineering textbooks state that the amalgam slowly spreads like wood rot to adjacent areas."
Don"t the new light bulbs "they" want us to use contain mercury? And it is left up to the general public to dispose of them "properly"? Are we supposed to ship them where? Dump them where? No place to return them where I live. Guess it will go to the landfill with everything else?
My understanding is the amount of mercury in the CFL's is smaller quantity that what would have been produced with the extra power that would have been needed to power regular bulb.
In addition the thing to understand about mercury is that it evaporates which is how it becomes big issue, most of these bulbs are going to be disposed of in a landfill or recycled and it will never enter the atmosphere.
Anything more we do will not amount to much, it needs to be addressed globally . The more you try and remove US emissions the more it costs US industries, the more jobs going overseas to China. I would suggest tighter emissions standards here in the US will have reverse effect and increase emissions.
Whatsamatter? You afraid to say, "global"?
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