Mercury Measurement and Its Control: What We Know, Have Learned, and Need to Further Investigate

Abstract

Based on the available evidence of health effects, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been evaluating the need to regulate mercury releases to the environment. In response to the congressional mandates in The 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments (CAAA), the EPA has issued the Mercury Study Report and the Study of Hazardous Air Pollutant Emissions from Electric Utility Steam Generating Units Report. In spite of the enormous effort represented by these reports, as well as the efforts of both the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), in conducting the field measurement programs that form the basis for these reports, a definitive answer on the need for mercury regulation has not been found. However, the EPA, as well as other regulatory agencies and health researchers, have suggested a "plausible link" between anthropogenic sources emitting mercury and the methylation, bioaccumulation in the food chain, and adverse health effects in humans and wildlife.