Mercury Falling: Obama Calls for Global Pact to Reduce Toxic Metal

      ^{NIPSCO Coal Power Plant Cooling Tower on the edge of Lake Michigan. Photo credit: John J. Mosesso/NBII.Gov}

Barack Obama has only been president for a month, but from his policy stances on subjects ranging from endangered species to climate change, it’s obvious his administration is not following in the environmental footsteps of the Bush White House. Yet another policy difference emerged on Monday, when a senior diplomat told a global gathering of environmental ministers in Kenya that the U.S. wants an international treaty to reduce mercury in the environment.

As the Associated Press reports, Daniel Reifsnyder, the deputy assistant secretary of state for environment and sustainable development, said, "We're prepared to help lead in developing a globally legally binding instrument," he said. "It is clear mercury is the most important global chemical issue facing us today that calls for immediate action."

The statement represented a ''180-degree turnaround'' from policy under the Bush administration, said Michael Bender, co-coordinator of the Zero Mercury Working Group, a global coalition of 75 environmental organizations working to reduce mercury exposure. ''The change is like night and day. The Bush administration opposed any international legal agreements on mercury and President (Barack) Obama is in office less than one month and is already supporting a global agreement,'' he said.

Bender said his group has had more discussions over mercury control in the past two weeks than they have in the last eight years and that the U.S. government included many of their ideas in the proposal they are presented in Nairobi.

Nearly half of anthropogenic mercury emissions come from coal-burning power plants. The plants release mercury when the coal is burned, spewing it into the air. Eventually, it falls over land (where terrestrial species like Bicknell's thrush can ingest it) or in water, where microorganisms can tranform it into methylmercury, a highly toxic form of the element that builds up in shellfish, fish—and the creatures that eat them, including people.

Because high levels of mercury have been shown to impair nervous system development in fetuses, the FDA recommends that women who may become pregnant, are pregnant, or are breastfeeding avoid eating fish that contain high levels (shark, swordfish, king mackerel, or tile fish) and not consume more than 6 ounces of albacore tuna a week.

Here’s how the legally binding, global pact would work: 

A U.S.-drafted proposal obtained by The Associated Press would form a negotiating committee in conjunction with the U.N. environment program to help countries reduce their mercury use, clean up contaminated sites and find environmentally sound ways to store mercury. The European Union has already banned mercury exports starting in 2011. The U.S. has a similar ban that will be effective 2013, legislation that was sponsored by Obama when he was a U.S. senator.

If the treaty is created, hopefully our neighbors to the north and other countries will get on board. Now that would be hot.