Mercury: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, Part 3
Mercury: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, Part 3 According to www.epa.gov , in 2000, the EPA Administrator found that regulation of hazardous air pollutants, including mercury , from coal and oil-fired power plants was appropriate and necessary. In 1999, EPA estimated that approximately 75 tons of mercury were found in the coal delivered to power plants each year and about two thirds of this mercury was emitted to the air, resulting in about 50 tons being emitted annually . This seems to be an outrageously large amount of elemental mercury. This is mercury emitted in the United States... imagine the total global mercury pollution . Natural sources of mercury — such as volcanic eruptions and emissions from the ocean—have been estimated to contribute about a third of current worldwide mercury air emissions, whereas anthropogenic (human-caused) emissions account for the remaining two-thirds. These estimates are highly uncertain. Land, water, and other surfaces can repeatedly r...