{"id":2789,"date":"2012-06-03T11:18:02","date_gmt":"2012-06-03T17:18:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/valleywatch.net\/?p=2789"},"modified":"2012-06-03T11:18:02","modified_gmt":"2012-06-03T17:18:02","slug":"is-indiana-taking-proper-action-against-toxins-in-our-waterways","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/valleywatch.net\/?p=2789","title":{"rendered":"Is Indiana taking proper action against toxins in our waterways?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>June 3, 2012-By Ryan Sabalow in <a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.indystar.com\/starwatch\/2012\/06\/03\/is-indiana-taking-proper-action-against-toxins-in-our-waterways\/\">Star Watch in the Indianapolis Star<\/a><\/p>\n<div id=\"the_absolute\">\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/valleywatch.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Indiana-Flag-scream.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-2790\" title=\"Indiana Flag scream\" src=\"http:\/\/valleywatch.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Indiana-Flag-scream.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"360\" height=\"292\" srcset=\"http:\/\/valleywatch.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Indiana-Flag-scream.jpg 360w, http:\/\/valleywatch.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Indiana-Flag-scream-300x243.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 360px) 100vw, 360px\" \/><\/a>About a mile south of Lucas Oil Stadium in Downtown Indianapolis, Tony Chao stood fishing one recent morning on the bank of the White River.<\/p>\n<p>A few feet behind his back, a sign warned not to wade into the water. Too much raw sewage in there. A sign to his left warned \u201cnot all fish are safe to eat.\u201d Some have too many toxins in their meat.<\/p>\n<p>When asked whether he actually eats what he catches, Chao, 55, gave a look that might best be described as \u201care you serious?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Chao\u2019s three fishing rods were propped up next to a pile of someone else\u2019s discarded beer cans, sport-drink bottles and soggy carpet pieces.<\/p>\n<p>Beyond the trash, across the river, a white cloud puffed up from a smokestack.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t think people eat the fish here,\u201d Chao said.<\/p>\n<p>And for good reason.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a title=\"Map of Indiana's impaired waters\" href=\"http:\/\/www.in.gov\/idem\/nps\/files\/303d_2012_list_notice.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">Map of Indiana\u2019s impaired waters<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a title=\"Indiana State Department of Health's fish advisory\" href=\"http:\/\/www.in.gov\/isdh\/23650.htm\" target=\"_blank\">Indiana State Department of Health\u2019s fish advisory<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a title=\"EPA's mercury and air toxics standards\" href=\"http:\/\/www.epa.gov\/mats\/basic.html\" target=\"_blank\">EPA\u2019s mercury and air toxics standards<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>This stretch of the White River \u2014 like so many other Hoosier waterways \u2014 contains species of fish that have tested positive for mercury and other pollutants called PCBs, synthetic chemicals so toxic federal officials banned them more than three decades ago.<a href=\"http:\/\/valleywatch.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Somethings-Fishy-lg.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-2791\" title=\"Something's Fishy lg\" src=\"http:\/\/valleywatch.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Somethings-Fishy-lg.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"543\" height=\"366\" srcset=\"http:\/\/valleywatch.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Somethings-Fishy-lg.jpg 543w, http:\/\/valleywatch.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Somethings-Fishy-lg-300x202.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 543px) 100vw, 543px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>That there are concerns about the water quality of Indiana\u2019s rivers, lakes and streams is not new. But environmentalists are increasingly worried the state has become passive about the problem, even as Indiana\u2019s regulators and industry officials say they\u2019ve made significant progress monitoring and reducing the toxins in Hoosier waterways.<\/p>\n<p>In a draft report about to be submitted to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, state environmental management officials say there are nearly 1,000 stretches of Indiana streams, rivers and lakes where fish have PCBs and mercury in their bodies.<\/p>\n<p>But while other states have created action plans specifically geared toward reducing the contaminants in fish, Indiana hasn\u2019t.<\/p>\n<p>And that concerns environmentalists who say state officials, prompted by a long-standing reluctance to regulate industrial polluters \u2014 particularly the coal-fired power plants that dump more than 4,000 pounds of mercury into the environment in a single year \u2014 are putting the public at risk.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cWe know what the problem is\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>At the heart of current debate is the Indiana Department of Environmental Management\u2019s handling of mercury and PCB contamination in a biennial water pollution report soon to be submitted to the EPA.<\/p>\n<p>In the report, state water quality regulators list mercury and PCB fish-tissue contamination as a leading cause of lake and stream impairment, second only to fecal bacteria contamination.<\/p>\n<p>Nevertheless, IDEM placed waterways with mercury and PCB-contaminated fish on a separate, less-urgent action list.<\/p>\n<p>Environmentalists say the decision, in effect, allows the state to delay dealing with toxic fish.<\/p>\n<p>Unacceptable, says Bowden Quinn, conservation program coordinator for the Sierra Club\u2019s Hoosier chapter.<\/p>\n<p>He called it part of a longstanding pattern of inaction among state environmental regulators, who would rather grouse about federal agencies\u2019 lack of funding and guidance instead of actually doing something to get toxins out of the state\u2019s waterways.<\/p>\n<p>For mercury at least, he said, that means forcing one industry to curb how much gets dumped into the environment.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe know what the problem is,\u201d Quinn said. \u201cIt\u2019s coal.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>According to the EPA, coal-burning power plants are the largest human-caused source of mercury in the U.S., accounting for more than 50 percent of all the nation\u2019s airborne mercury emissions.<\/p>\n<p>In Indiana, coal power plants released more than 4,000 pounds of the element into the environment in 2010, the last year numbers were compiled by IDEM. Industrial boilers, foundries and incinerators accounted for 1,000 more pounds that year.<\/p>\n<p>In 2008, Indiana was the seventh-largest source of mercury pollution in the country, according to the EPA\u2019s most recent figures.<a href=\"http:\/\/valleywatch.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Fish-Hg.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-2792\" title=\"Fish-Hg\" src=\"http:\/\/valleywatch.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Fish-Hg.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"576\" height=\"279\" srcset=\"http:\/\/valleywatch.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Fish-Hg.jpg 576w, http:\/\/valleywatch.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Fish-Hg-300x145.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 576px) 100vw, 576px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Advisories issued<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The source of PCB pollution is less easy to pinpoint.<\/p>\n<p>PCBs, which were domestically manufactured to be used in things such as electrical transformers, plastics and floor finishes, were banned in 1979 after scientists linked them to a host of human health problems, including cancer.<\/p>\n<p>PCBs seep into the water supply through such things as leaky transformers, old industrial centers and poorly maintained dump sites. Slow to break down, they linger in the environment for decades.<\/p>\n<p>Mercury and PCBs have at least one thing in common: They wash into waterways and are absorbed by micro-organisms at a bottom of a waterway\u2019s food chain.<\/p>\n<p>Those organisms are eventually eaten by fish \u2014 and the anglers who catch them.<\/p>\n<p>Small levels of mercury and PCBs build up over time in the bodies of animals and people. The body never flushes them out.<\/p>\n<p>They\u2019re particularly worrisome for pregnant women and young children because the toxins damage developing brains and bodies.<\/p>\n<p>The problem is so widespread the Indiana State Department of Health has devoted an entire section of its website to giving anglers guidance about which waterways have contaminated fish and how much they should eat out of each one.<\/p>\n<p>Falon French, outreach associate and policy researcher for the Hoosier Environmental Council, said the problem is that not everyone reads the state\u2019s fish-consumption warning signs.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe hear from a lot of people who fish in the waterways and don\u2019t listen to the advisory,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>Even so, instilling \u201cfear in people where it isn\u2019t warranted\u201d is a bad idea, said Jody Arthur, integrated report coordinator for IDEM\u2019s Watershed Assessment and Planning Branch, because eating the occasional fish or taking a weekend swim is largely a safe activity in Indiana\u2019s lakes and rivers.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cWork\u2019s being done\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>State officials say they aren\u2019t ignoring the toxins, nor being soft on industries that pollute. They just haven\u2019t found a reduction plan that is workable for them. They also say the EPA hasn\u2019t yet provided enough guidance and money.<\/p>\n<p>IDEM officials say they\u2019ve also made significant progress over the years in reducing mercury emissions. A decade ago, the state\u2019s polluters were releasing more than 10,000 pounds of mercury, twice the current numbers. And the amounts are expected to drop further by the time new EPA air-quality rules take effect.<\/p>\n<p>A trade group president representing investor-owned electric utilities said the EPA also has recently introduced emission standards that will force companies to put smokestack scrubbers on most of Indiana\u2019s coal-burning power plants by 2016. And many small or older power stations will be retired because of the costly upgrades.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWork\u2019s being done,\u201d said Stan Pinegar, president of the Indiana Energy Association. \u201cIt\u2019s not like neither the utilities or IDEM are sitting on their heels here.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The way the contaminants are listed in the EPA report, state officials say, also means Indiana will have to eventually come up with a pollution-reduction plan \u2014 just not right now.<\/p>\n<p>Mercury finds its way into water from outside sources, too \u2014 power plants and other polluters across the globe, said Bruno Pigott, IDEM\u2019s assistant commissioner of water quality. He said more study is needed to determine the sources and what needs to be done.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s not a cheap process, and we want it to be scientifically defensible,\u201d he said. \u201cWe care. We care about getting it right.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The surest way to remove mercury from the environment would be to ban coal-fired power plants outright and switch to cleaner burning fuels such as natural gas \u2014 at a cost ratepayers likely wouldn\u2019t appreciate, said Thomas P. Simon, a former EPA aquatic biologist, now a professor at Indiana University\u2019s School of Public and Environmental Affairs.<\/p>\n<p>Getting the remaining PCBs out of the state\u2019s waterways, Simon said, would similarly entail costly dredging, cleaning and \u201cliterally moving tons and tons of sediment.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIDEM gets hammered a lot,\u201d Simon said. \u201cSometimes it\u2019s justified. But, overall, I think IDEM has done a good job, given the resources, given the manpower, given the constraints.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>IDEM and other states<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>But leaders in other states have devoted cash and manpower to draft plans geared toward reducing PCBs and mercury in their fish.<\/p>\n<p>A coalition of New England states, as well as Minnesota and New Jersey, already have developed mercury-reduction plans, which set emission standards and timelines for polluters to get their mercury output down, said Peter Cassell, the EPA\u2019s Midwest water-quality spokesman.<\/p>\n<p>A number of states, including a coalition along the Delaware River on the East Coast, also have developed similar PCB-reduction plans that put controls on industry wastewater runoff and airborne chemical releases.<\/p>\n<p>Rebecca Walter, mercury program coordinator for the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, said her state\u2019s reason for coming up with a mercury reduction plan was simple enough: In a tourism-dependent state that touts itself as the \u201cLand of 10,000 lakes,\u201d it didn\u2019t look good that 820 of them had health advisories warning of mercury-contaminated fish.<\/p>\n<p>As such, she said, Minnesota\u2019s coal plants, mines and other industrial facilities were ordered to reduce their mercury output from more than 3,000 pounds in 2005 to 789 pounds by 2025. That\u2019s a reduction of nearly 75 percent.<\/p>\n<p>Without a specific pollution plan, Indiana\u2019s goals are a lot less lofty.<\/p>\n<p>IDEM officials say the state\u2019s mercury emissions are expected to see a 14 percent decrease by 2018, leaving Indiana with 4,300 pounds of the toxic element still emitted into the state\u2019s air and water each year.<\/p>\n<p>Even though the EPA gives states leeway to prioritize which contaminants to target, Walter says, it\u2019s widely expected the federal government will soon begin forcing states to come up with plans similar to Minnesota\u2019s.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think the delaying isn\u2019t going to help,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p><strong>An unsafe food source<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Natalie Roy, executive director of the Washington, D.C.- based Clean Water Network, said Indiana is clearly trying to \u201cpunt\u201d responsibility of cleaning up its waterways.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s pathetic,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s also an example, she said, of a lack of uniform federal standards that would force states to do more to clean their troubled waters.<\/p>\n<p>Roy said even if states do come up with pollution plans, lack of funding and political will means they can languish on shelves for decades.<\/p>\n<p>Because each state is allowed to do things differently, it also makes it difficult to determine which ones are actually making progress \u2014 or to compare Indiana with other states.<\/p>\n<p>Roy didn\u2019t hold out a lot of hope for Indiana on that front, especially after learning Gov. Mitch Daniels once argued the EPA should be renamed the \u201cEmployment Prevention Agency.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is about water, for God\u2019s sake,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>French, of the Hoosier Environmental Council, said cleaning up Indiana\u2019s streams and lakes also would help the economy.<\/p>\n<p>She said not only is it fundamental for Indiana residents to have clean streams and rivers because they\u2019re the source of the state\u2019s drinking water, fishing is a major part of the state\u2019s heritage and culture, something that helps drive the tourism industry and spur job growth.<\/p>\n<p>Eating fish caught from local streams and lakes, she said, also could help poor Hoosiers when times get tough. Of course, the fish first need to be safe to eat.<\/p>\n<p>Chao, the White River fisherman, said he had no problem fishing in a waterway so dirty officials had to put up warning signs.<\/p>\n<p>For him, fishing is for fun, not food. But for those who do want to eat fish, he offers some advice.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGo to the store,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s safer.\u201d<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>June 3, 2012-By Ryan Sabalow in Star Watch in the Indianapolis Star About a mile south of Lucas Oil Stadium in Downtown Indianapolis, Tony Chao stood fishing one recent morning on the bank of the White River. A few feet &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/valleywatch.net\/?p=2789\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[25,186,187,17,185,58,169,170],"class_list":["post-2789","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-coal","tag-fish-consumption-advisories","tag-idem","tag-indiana","tag-indianapolis-star","tag-mercury","tag-toxic-pollution","tag-water-pollution"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/valleywatch.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2789","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/valleywatch.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/valleywatch.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/valleywatch.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/valleywatch.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2789"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/valleywatch.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2789\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2793,"href":"http:\/\/valleywatch.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2789\/revisions\/2793"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/valleywatch.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2789"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/valleywatch.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2789"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/valleywatch.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2789"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}