The Catch

My husband and I have a new hobby -- fishing. It's so much fun, so relaxing, and my son adores casting with his own little rod (hookless, of course). Last Saturday I caught 6 fish, we ate three rock bass and freed the rest (pumpkinseeds and a small-mouth bass). The only "catch" is that in CT the mercury levels in fish are high, and there are weekly and monthly consumption limits on everything except trout, which are stocked regularly by the DEP.

The mercury comes primarily from outside our state via air pollution, which falls into the water and concentrates over time in fish to dangerously high levels. I find this sad, really, really sad. There are certain realities of our modern level that puzzle me, and this is one of them: how can we have allowed this to continue? Why aren't there more restrictions? How is it that our industries and governments and CITIZENS consider the source of the pollution "worth more" than the costs of prevention?

The EPA has tried to put regulations in place, but our government has stopped them at every turn. What a disappointment.

For more information, visit the EPA website, or read a bit of recent history below:

"EPA has decided to develop emissions standards for power plants under the Clean Air Act (Section 112), consistent with the D.C. Circuit’s opinion (PDF) (18pp, 51k, about PDF) on the Clean Air Mercury Rule (CAMR).
Accordingly, on February 6, 2009, the Department of Justice, on behalf of EPA, asked the Supreme Court to dismiss EPA’s request (petition for certiorari) that the Court review the D.C. Circuit Court’s vacatur of the Clean Air Mercury Rule (CAMR).

On February 23, 2009, the Court also denied the Utility Air Regulatory Group’s request to review the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision.

The Clean Air Mercury Rule was part of the suite of inter-related rules collectively known as the Clean Air Rules of 2004. These rules address ozone and fine particle pollution, nonroad diesel emissions, and power plant emissions of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and mercury.
On March 10, 2005, in a separate but related action, EPA issued the Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR), which the D.C. Circuit remanded without vacatur on December 23, 2008.
On March 15, 2005, EPA issued the Clean Air Mercury Rule to permanently cap and reduce mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants for the first time ever.
On February 8, 2008, the D.C. Circuit vacated EPA's rule removing power plants from the Clean Air Act list of sources of hazardous air pollutants. At the same time, the Court vacated the Clean Air Mercury Rule."