Indiana Environment Agency Saves $285,000 By Shutting Down State's Mercury Monitoring System

[hatrack]

In its latest cost-cutting move, the Indiana Department of Environmental Management has shut down mercury monitors across the state, including at the Indiana Dunes. The cut would save the agency about $285,000 annually. But critics say it would impact the state's ability to assess whether regulation to reduce mercury pollution is working. The Indiana Dunes monitoring station has periodically registered one of the 10 highest mercury concentrations in the nation, said Martin Risch, a hydrologist and project chief with the U.S. Geological Survey in Indianapolis. Kim Ferraro, an attorney with the Legal Environmental Aid Foundation of Indiana, called removal of the mercury monitoring stations "devastating" to the state's ability to track mercury deposition.

"Clearly, the less data we have to substantiate what pollutants are in the air, the less is required of industries who emit those pollutants to reduce those emissions," she said. "One of the main obstacles to succeeding in a legal action for environmental harm is the element of causation. The less data to make that link, the greater the obstacle becomes. This was no budget cut -- it was a favor to refineries and coal companies."

Five precipitation monitors, including one at the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore in Porter, have been in place since 2000. Twenty-five stream monitoring stations -- including one at the Kankakee River in Shelby and one at the Little Calumet River at Porter -- have been in place since 2004. Among the goals of the program were to get a better idea of how mercury is dispersed and eliminate the need for fish consumption advisories.

"There's a lot of people in Indiana that fish for recreation. You ought to be able to eat what you catch, but you can't now," Risch said. Fish-eating birds and mammals also depend on the fish. Mercury levels build up in food chains so wildlife can be exposed to concentrations that may impair their reproduction and survival, he said.

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http://www.post-trib.com/news/2137903,mercurymon0402.article

[BrklynLiberal]

1. The very definition of penny wise and pound foolish.

[pscot]

2. Thinking ouside the box

Well, not exactly "thinking" as such.

[bananas]

3. Indiana is very pro-nuke and anti-environment.

Vice-President J. Danforth Quayle is from Indiana.
"You say tomato, I say potato"

[formercia]

4. While they're at it, why don't they disconnect the fire alarms

and cancel 911 services? Just think how much they could save by taking the State back to the Stone Age.