Mercury blows into Idaho from neighboring states

[boise1]

Oregon cement plant newly revealed as major source of poisonous pollutant

The Idaho Statesman
Edition Date: 08-14-2006

Some of the nation's largest sources of mercury lie just over Idaho's borders, sending the poisonous pollutant into the state on the prevailing winds.

Idaho officials and environmentalists have been pressing Nevada gold mines to reduce mercury emissions that accumulate in fish and can cause brain damage and learning disabilities in babies and young children. On Aug. 3, Oregon Department of Environmental Quality officials revealed the emissions of a huge cement plant 100 miles upwind of Boise.

Ash Grove Cement's plant in Durkee, Ore., southeast of Baker City emits up to 2,153 pounds of mercury annually — 10 times the amount expected from a typical coal-fired electric power plant like the one Sempra Energy proposed then abandoned near Jerome earlier this year. By comparison, Idaho's top mercury polluter in 2004 was P4 Production's phosphate plant in Caribou County in Southeast Idaho, with 710 pounds.

Gov. Jim Risch took a strong stand Wednesday against the coal plant and new mercury sources in Idaho by opting out of a federal mercury pollution trading program.

[CabalPowered]

1. Well colored me shocked! Risch did something right?

Hurry! Pinch me.