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Agency
cites way to lower mercury
Chicago Tribune -
10/10
Hoping to silence
its critics, the North Shore Sanitary District is spending
$375,000 on equipment it says will drastically reduce mercury
emissions from a waste-treatment plant it wants to build on
Waukegan's Lake Michigan shore.
With the
equipment, the $26 million plant would release no more than 1.7
pounds of mercury per year, said James Swarthout, president of the
district.
But critics say
that still would be too much.
U.S. Rep. Mark
Kirk (R-Ill.) and local environmentalists said Wednesday they will
continue to oppose the plant, which they said would be the first
new source of mercury pollution in Lake Michigan in at least a
decade.
"We ought to
develop a solution that involves putting no new mercury into Lake
Michigan," Kirk said. He recently asked the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency to revoke the sanitary district's
permit to build the plant.
The plant
proposal has drawn criticism on more than one front.
The City of
Waukegan sued to block construction. City officials said the plant
would hurt efforts to redevelop the downtown and lakefront. A Lake
County judge ruled that the district must get city zoning approval
for the plant. The district has appealed that ruling to the
Illinois Appellate Court.
Environmentalists
oppose the plant because of the mercury it would release. Lake
Michigan is under a federal fish consumption advisory because of
mercury contamination. Mercury is a naturally occurring but potent
neurotoxin that can become concentrated in fish.
"The lake is
already telling us there's too much mercury in it," said
Cameron Davis, executive director the Lake Michigan Federation, an
environmental group lobbying lawmakers to block the plant.
The sanitary
district treats sewage for an estimated 350,000 customers who live
near the lakefront in Lake County. The new plant would allow the
district to burn its sludge rather than bury it in a landfill. The
plant would replace the district's landfill operation near Zion.
District
officials said the amount of mercury the plant would release is
small compared with the amount released by coal-fired plants, such
as the one Midwest Generation operates in Waukegan, next to the
sanitary district's waste-treatment facility.
The Midwest
Generation plant, which produces electricity, discharges at least
300 pounds of mercury annually into the atmosphere, said Doug
McFarlan, company spokesman.
There are no
restrictions on the amount of mercury the Midwest Generation plant
and others like it may release. The federal government is expected
to issue mercury guidelines for those plants by 2004, McFarlan
said.
Swarthout said it
is unfair for critics to single out the sanitary district's plans.
"We collect
about 33 pounds of mercury a year, but with this new system, we'll
be able to get rid of all but 1.7 pounds of it," Swarthout
said. "The big issue for us has been with the mercury, and I
think it's a phony issue."
The plant would
use a drying and melting process to convert sludge into a ceramic
or glasslike byproduct that could be used in road construction.
The process would release some mercury into the atmosphere, where
it could eventually make its way into Lake Michigan.
The Illinois EPA
approved the project in March and issued a permit to the district
that would allow it to emit up to 92 pounds of mercury per year.
The district has
spent $10 million in start-up costs.
Swarthout said
the district plans to hire a New Jersey firm, Croll-Reynolds Clean
Air Technologies, to help reduce mercury emissions from its new
plant.
James Reynolds,
owner of Croll-Reynolds, said the district plans to purchase two
stainless steel vessels that use carbon to capture mercury that
has been vaporized in the melter.
"Think of it
like a piece of charcoal that has nooks and crannies and
passageways that can capture the mercury as it goes through the
carbon bed," Reynolds said. He said his firm has applied the
technology to other industries that want to eliminate mercury
emissions.
The absorbent
carbon beds would have to be replaced every three to five years.
Swarthout said the district is willing to do so, if it helps make
the plant a reality.
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