Bayou State Moves To Say "Bye To Mercury Emissions"

Louisiana is taking further steps to radically reduce mercury emissions in the Bayou State. Plans that were put off because of Katrina are now back on line and mercury emissions are on the run. While it appears that Louisiana will ride the Federal CAMR relating to coal burning power plants, the Chlor -alkali industry is following the lead of Oceana and going mercury free in the next couple years. These changes represent huge reductions in the amount of mercury released into the air and water of the area.

An excerpt from 2TheAdvocate follows;

Interrupted by hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the process was taken up again and helped along when the Legislature passed the Louisiana Mercury Risk Reduction Act of 2006.

That work culminated in the DEQ release of the “Mercury Risk Reduction Plan” Thursday, available on DEQ’s Web site: http://www.deq.louisiana.gov.
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Some of the biggest reductions are coming in 2008 and 2009 as two chlor-alkali plants in the state switch to a process that uses no mercury.

Pioneer Cos. Inc. in St. Gabriel plans to stop using mercury by the end of 2008, and PPG Industries plant in Lake Charles has already made the transition, Piehler said.

“Those are the few biggest ones,” Piehler said about the future reductions.

The next big releasers of mercury to the air in Louisiana are coal-fired power plants, but relatively recent federal mercury rules will help reduce mercury emissions from those in the coming years, he said. Louisiana has four coal-fired power plants.

More from KATC.com;

Barry Kohl, a member of the working group that helped DEQ draft the report who's also with the Louisiana Audubon Council, called it a "good first step," and one that puts Louisiana ahead of other states. He said few states have plans both to identify mercury pollution sources and to try to mitigate their effects.